The still living dream
by Mira94
Summary: Naruto is banished from the village after he leaks too much of the Kyuubi's power out during a training session according to the council.Still dealing with the loss of his best friend, how can Naruto survive being banished from the place he grew up?Nar/sa
1. Chapter 1

**The still-living dream.**

**Summary;** Naruto is banished from the village after he leaks too much of the Kyuubi's power out during a training session according to the council. Still dealing with the loss of his best friend, how can Naruto survive being banished from the place he grew up?

**Pairings; **NaruSaku, other comes with the chapters!

* * *

Naruto Uzumaki, 13 years old, Genin from the Hidden village in the leafs; Konoha. His biggest dream is to become Hokage, that way, the people in his village would start respecting him and treat him as he was a human and not the '_demon-child_' as he often called, along with other names, by the villagers and ninjas in the village. But how is he supposed to live up to the dream, when all his hopes just got crashed?

You wanna know what happened, right?

Then you'll have to keep reading, and you'll get your answers.

**Flashback**

_Tsunade was sleeping peacefully, until she heard a voice next to her ear saying her name over and over again. She thought it was kind of weird at first, she was the HOKAGE, and she thought she was hearing a MALE voice. No one dared to come into her room when she was a sleep, yet less a male. She shrugged it off and turned around in the bed, showing off some the cleavage she had, however, she was still covered up. She was probably showing as much as she did when she used her normal clothes. She heard the person sigh again, before the person she had told herself that she had imaginated was there, TOUCHED HER. **TOUCHED HER! **_

_Tsunade's eyes opened wide in shock, and was about to get up and punch the person senseless, when the person took his hand quickly away from her shoulder and jumped many feet away. "No,no,no! It's just me!" The person said, and Tsunade was positive that it was the biggest pervert all over elemental. _

"_JIRAYA! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Tsunade almost yelled, but she caught herself, and whispered with a angry instead. The reasons to this was; 1: She would probably wake up Shizune who was sleeping in the room next to hers. 2: If anyone heard her, and they came in here, seeing Tsunade in only her panties, and in the same room as the number one pervert... What do you think people would think? _

"_WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND, YOU OLD PERVERT!?" Tsunade whispered angry at him again, using the blanket to cover up her breasts as much as possible. _

"_Nothing, Hime." Jiraya said, trying to convince Tsunade he wasn't there to take notes, try to get his way with her, or being a pervert of any sorts._

"_YEAH RIGTH!" Tsunade had just half yelled at him. Both of them grew silent as they listened if there was any signs of anyone coming towards her room. Both of them was staring at the door as to break through a Genjutsu. When nothing had happened for a good 30 seconds, Tsunade moved her head to look at the man in front of her, who actually was her teammate and a very good friend. "Then what are you here for? You're in my room god dammit!" _

_Tsunade had been searching in his eyes for any pervertedness at all, seeing no one, she narrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Here she was, only a blanket covering her almost naked body, and Jiraya, THE Jiraya, didn't show any kind of perverted interest in her body at all. He actually stayed professional when there was a woman, nearly naked, under a blanket, on a bed, just a few feet away from him. "I'm here to ask you for a request." Jiraya said, still staying fully professional, as he always should. _

"_About what?" Tsunade asked, a little interested in the situation._

"_Naruto." Jiraya said simply. _

_If that name was ever mentioned, Tsunade would be interested. "Got it. Go to the kitchen, we'll talk there." Tsunade said and motioned for Jiraya to turn around. When he had, she stood up from her bed and picked up her very comfortable coat. Jiraya had already started to walk towards the door, and just as he was about to open it, it was opened and revealed Shizune standing there. _

"_Tsunade-sama, are you alright? I hear-" Shizune stopped when she saw Jiraya standing right in front of her. She looked at him, and then her eyes wandered past him to see Tsunade standing by her bed, picking up her coat. Shizune then put two and two together and started to blush furiously. However, before she could say anything, she was out cold because of Jiraya. Tsunade had just closed her coat, and she sighted and shook her head while she looked at her oldest apprentice in the arms of Jiraya. _

"_Take her to her room, that way she'll think that she dreamed." Tsunade said and Jiraya nodded, before he walked out the door and down the hall, before walking into Shizune's room, placing her on her bed, then pulling the covers over her. He then walked out of her room and walked into the kitchen._

_Since Tsunade didn't like being at the Hokage tower, she and Shizune had bought an apartment right beside the tower. That way, they wouldn't be living in the tower, but they would be available easily if anything happened. When Jiraya walked into the kitchen, he met the back of Tsunade, who was finding two cups and a bottle of sake. She then turned around just as Jiraya sat down on a chair. Tsunade sat the two cups down on the table and sat down across from Jiraya. She then poured some sake into each of their cups. _

"_So what is it?" Tsunade asked as she placed the bottle of sake down on the table and lifted her cup up to her lips and took a sip of her sake. _

_Jiraya lifted his own cup of sake up to his lips, "Thanks." He said before he took a sip of his own. Tsunade nodded her head at him, as if saying 'no problem'. "I'm asking for permission to take Naruto out of the village for one whole day tomorrow." Jiraya said._

"_Really? Why?" Tsunade asked._

"_Training really. I'm sure you as well know that the seal Minato placed on him is getting weaker. My reason for going out of the village to train him for one day is simple. If he looses control he can cause a huge damage to the village. We both know that Naruto had a very horrible childhood.." Both Jiraya and Tsunade hung their heads in shame, they could have been there for him sooner. "And there is just a handful of people who see him as Naruto Uzumaki and not the Kyuubi. We're talking about the people who know about the truth about the Kyuubi. Naruto, through good doings and sacrifices have gotten some villagers respect, while some and most of them see him as the Kyuubi itself. I'm scared that if anyone see him in his Kyuubi form, they would hate him even more, lose the respect they had just given him, and maybe even be scared of him. I certainly don't want that to happen. I will not cause him any more pain. That is why I'm requesting this from you." Jiraya said._

"_You'd probably be too distracted here in the village anyway..." Tsunade muttered to herself, but it was hears by Jiraya. _

"_Hey!" He said, acting hurt. Tsunade rolled her eyes._

"_The request is granted. Now, where the hell is those papers...!" Tsunade said as she stood up from her chair and looked after a paper where she would sign up the names of the ones leaving, how long they will be gone, and of course, her signature. She kept some at her apartment just in case something like this happened. But apparently Shizune had been cleaning... Now Tsunade didn't have any idea where the papers were! She used to have just fine control over those a day ago. Tsunade kept looking and finally she found a bunch of the papers. "Here they are." She said and smiled before she went to sit back down on the chair. She then remembered that she didn't find a pen and was about to get up, but Jiraya had apparently found a pen while she was looking for the papers and was now holding it out to her as he took another sip of his sake. "Thanks." She said, and Jiraya nodded at her the way she had nodded at him just a few minutes ago._

"_Alright, Jiraya and Naruto Uzumaki... Will be gone in one day the most.. Signed, Tsunade, the fifth Hokage." She said as she wrote on the paper. She then handed it to him. _

_Jiraya took the paper from her hand and put it into his pocket before he took the sake bottle and poured a new round with sake to the both of them. "Why the hell did you appear in my room like that anyway?" Tsunade asked him. _

"_Well.."_

_Tsunade didn't let him finish, "You didn't do anything to me, did you?" Tsunade asked with a look that would make anyone scared out of their mind. _

"_What? NO! I would never take advantage of you like that!" Jiraya assured her, causing Tsunade to smile slightly. "But you should know that you look very cute when you're sleeping, Hime." Jiraya said with a grin. _

_Tsunade sighed, "Nice to know..." Tsunade said before she took another sip of her sake. "You didn't look at my boobs, did you?" She asked again._

"_Hmm? No. As I said, I would never take advantage of you like that!" Jiraya explained to her again. _

"_You just peep on women in the hotspring?" Tsunade asked again, looking at him._

"_Ehh.. I regret doing that to you Hime.." Jiraya said with regret in his voice._

"_Because of the pain eh?" Tsunade asked said more than asked him. She got a puzzled look on her face when Jiraya shook his head._

"_No, because I hurt you. I deserved that beating you gave me." Jiraya said._

"_I nearly killed you, Jiraya." Tsunade said in a serious tone._

"_Well, let's just say that it works better than a normal beating I get from the other girls!" Jiraya said with a grin. "But believe it or not, I actually respect womens privacy."_

"_No, get out." Tsunade said disbelieving. _

"_No really.. The peeping get the better of me." Jiraya said. Then his thoughts wandered to a certain blond Genin. "Ah, crap, Naruto is going to try and kill me for not letting him eat ramen in one whole day..." Jiraya said and Tsunade chuckled. _

"_He certainly act a lot like them doesn't he?" Tsunade asked with a sad smile on her face. Jiraya nodded also with a sad smile on his face. _

"_You can see that every day, he's a mix of both of them. He got his looks from Minato, and much of his personality from Kushina..." Jiraya said and chuckled when he remembered how Kushina's personality was, she was a real tomboy.. But when she wanted to, she could make any boy crazy after her with the pure and caring smile of hers. _

"_When do you think it is time to tell him?" Tsunade asked, and Jiraya could swear he saw tears in her eyes. _

_Jiraya sighed, "I don't know.. When he's ready. I don't know how his reaction will be, if he will hate Minato for sealing the demon inside him, or if he will be proud.. Knowing the brat, he'll probably be a little angry at first, wondering why he had to seal it inside of him... But I think he'll understand his reasoning for choosing his son as the jailer of the most feared demon in the Shinobi countries."_

_Tsunade sniffed, "Yeah, you're probably right..." Tsunade brought her right hand up under her nose and sniffed again. Now Jiraya knew she was crying. _

"_Hime, what's wrong?" Jiraya asked as he put his right hand on top of her left that was still on the table._

_Tsunade didn't say anything, she just kept on sniffing before she started sobbing. Jiraya stood up from his chair and sat it down right next to Tsunade, before he placed his left arm around her pulling her in close. At first, Tsunade stiffened, but then she relaxed and took in the comfort Jiraya was giving her. Her left hand rested on the right side of his neck while she buried her face into his chest. She continued to sob uncontrollably and all the while Jiraya was rubbing her back gently with his right hand, while he held her tight with his left hand. He decided not to speak, seeing that he didn't know exactly why she started crying. He could feel his shirt get wet from her tears. Tsunade then started to relax a little, but she still held onto Jiraya just as she had before. She was shaking lightly and Jiraya was still rubbing her back lightly. And as crazy as you might think it is; He didn't have any perverted thoughts at all. NONE! _

"_I.. I-I just.. I can't help but blaming myself for Kushina's death!" Tsunade sobbed._

_Jiraya's face softened when she said so. Kushina had been a very good friend of Tsunade, and apparently, Tsunade looked at Kushina like a daughter. Tsunade had also been the one in charge for her birth to Naruto along with a few helping medics. Kushina had died from to much loss of blood, and Tsunade had put up seeing all that blood during the whole birth, even thought it was her biggest fear. _

"_Don't. You did your best, and you faced your biggest fear head on." Tsunade looked up at him for the first time in 15 minutes. "Kushina would be proud of you. I know I am." Jiraya said and gave her a warm smile. "Now, let me see you smile... come on..." Tsunade shrugged and rolled her eyes. She placed her head back down on his chest and took a few deep breaths to calm herself. Soon she had stopped crying at all. Tsunade lifted her head from his chest and looked at him with a smile. _

"_Thanks Jiraya.. I needed your comfort." She said as she laid her left hand which was on his neck up to his cheek. She then kissed him on the other cheek, making him very shocked before reality came to him and he started to blush. _

_Just as Tsunade kissed his cheek, Shizune walked into the room, hoping that a little water would clear her head. She had just dreamed that Jiraya was in Tsunade's room, and Tsunade was in only her panties and- Tsunade kissed Jiraya's cheek! "It wasn't a dream!" Shizune said shocked before she passed out. Tsunade pulled away from his cheek and looked at her unconscious apprentice and laughed a little. Jiraya also looked at her and sweat-drooped. _

"_I should go and get some sleep before I and Naruto leave for today's training." Jiraya said as he looked at the watch, it read 6.45 AM. "Alright, scratch that... Have we really been up for such a long time?" Jiraya asked as he got up from his chair and stretched. _

"_I guess.." Tsunade said as she took the two cups and the sake bottle to the sink, she then noticed something, "We haven't even drunk a half bottle with sake!" Tsunade said with disbelief. _

"_Must be a new record!" Jiraya said jokingly, "I'll take Shizune to her bedroom again." Jiraya said and started to walk away, but was pulled back by Tsunade's strength. She then hugged him. _

"_Thank you, Jiraya.. You're a really good.. Friend.." Tsunade said before she pulled away and smiled at him. Jiraya smiled back at her before he went to pick up Shizune and went to her room. When he came back out he smiled at her._

"_Anytime, Hime. See yah!" Jiraya said before he walked out of the door. _

_'Yeesshhh... He's using the door for once..' _

**End Flashback**

This happened in the middle of the night, but how could they know something terribly bad would happen? They just wanted Naruto to have the best life as possible, and help him.. They never meant for something like _that _to happen.

Jiraya walked towards Naruto's apartment. When he arrived, he somehow came inside, before he woke up Naruto. Naruto grunted and said he wanted more sleep, but that came to an end as Jiraya leaved the room and came back in with a huge bucket full of cold water and turned it upside down over Naruto. He got all the cold water all over Naruto. "I'm up, I'm up!" Naruto yelled.

"Take a quick shower and get dressed, then come into your kitchen." Jiraya said before he walked into Naruto's kitchen. He could see that Naruto didn't have much belongings. It was probably what the 3rd had given him when he moved into the apartment after he got thrown out of the orphanage. After the little things Naruto had told him about his crappy childhood, he didn't have more belongings at the orphanage than a few sets of clothes that had been passed down several times. He did also get a lot less food then the other kids. Naruto didn't really want or like to talk about his childhood, so he always tried to change the subject when he was asked about something. He would say something like, 'Oh look! A pear' or 'Look, a goat!' However, when he made that sort of signal that he didn't want to talk about it, Jiraya usually stopped asking him about it.

Naruto came into the kitchen fully clothed and washed up. "What's up, Ero-Seninn?" Naruto asked.

Jiraya ignored Naruto's nickname for him and said, "We're going out of the village for one day, we're gonna train."

"What? Seriously? Why out of the village?" Naruto asked, a little surprised that Jiraya would train him a whole day, without going to the Hotspring and peep at the girls.

"Yes, we're gonna train outside the village. As you may know, the seal that contains the demon inside your body is weakening..." Jiraya said and Naruto nodded slowly. "The reason I want to train you outside the village today is because if you lose control, you could cause a huge damage on the village, and maybe even the villagers. This is something we have to be careful with, and that is why I want to train you outside the village. Your earning peoples respect slowly, and I am afraid that if a incident like that happens, that respect would be gone, and their fear of the demon will come back." Jiraya said.

Naruto nodded his head in understanding, "I understand.. thanks for thinking about that, Ero-sennin!" Naruto said with a thankful smile.

"No problem brat. Now, let's head out." Jiraya said and started walking towards the door.

"What about breakfast?" Naruto asked.

"We'll eat when we arrive."

"I don't need to pack?"

"No."

"What about permission?"

"Already taken care of."

"... When the hell did you do that? It's 6.10 AM."

Jiraya looked at Naruto, "Just come."

At 7. 40 AM, Naruto and Jiraya had arrived where they would spend the whole day. It was a open place with trees all around, a hill with rocks and a river running through the open space. A perfect place for training. There was a tree just by the river, a Sakura tree to be exact, and Jiraya and Naruto decided that they would place their stuff there, and eat breakfast. It was only Jiraya who had anything with him, he had told Naruto not to bother with packing anything. Jiraya pulled out two sandwiches and threw one to Naruto. Jiraya shook his head when Naruto asked the million dollar question:

"Can we have Ramen?"

Jiraya sighed, "No, Naruto. We wont be eating Ramen at all while we're training today. You need to start eating healthier food than Ramen. If you keep on eating Ramen all the time, you'll never be able to become stronger. What you eat have quite a lot to do with training. The healthier you eat, the more you're able to do. That's why, you have to promise me to start eating healthier, even try to eat fruit between meals. You know you're actually supposed to have 5 fruits a day right?"

"Emh.. No..? But, if it have such a big deal with my training, then what kind of food will I have to eat? Can't I ever eat Ramen anymore?" Naruto asked.

"Of course you can eat Ramen, but not all the while. I know you lik- no, love Ramen, so you'll probably never be able to let it go, right?"

Naruto shook his head no, "Well, you could always eat Ramen to lunch when you're not training, or you can even reward you with one bowl of Ramen after one days hard work with training. I can allow that, but other than that, none. Got it?" Jiraya asked, and Naruto hesitantly nodded.

"Now, for your other question, just eat things that are healthy! Drink water and milk, maybe sometime even juice. Eat sandwiches like these to breakfast. Then maybe even to lunch along with an apple or something. For dinner make sure you eat something that makes you full. These are the three most important meal that you have a day. You can if you're hungry eat something after dinner, but this shouldn't be a huge meal, because food before bed gives you nightmares." Jiraya said.

Naruto didn't seem to believe him, but when he thought back at it, he used to eat quite a lot of Ramen just before he went to bed quite some times, and he did indeed get nightmares from when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. He didn't know how it looked like in real life for those who actually was battling against the Kyuubi, but if it was anywhere near as horrible as the nightmare showed, then it must have been really horrible, and one hell of a fight! Bodies were torn to shreds, people collapsing because of the huge chakra signature and killing intent, people being thrown backwards because pf the wind the Kyuubi's tails made with one easy movement, and so much more horrible things.

Jiraya noticed that Naruto didn't move or even react in quite some time after he had finished talking. He started to wonder what Naruto was thinking about, but when he was going to ask, Naruto seemed to snap out of it. "Those nightmares..." Naruto began, but started to hesitate saying more.

Jiraya looked at him, "Hmm? What do you mean ' those nightmares' ?" He asked, but Naruto didn't say anything. Instead, he decided to ask another question.

"Can I eat just one bowl of Ramen before bed then?" Naruto asked and Jiraya sweat-dropped.

"Uh.. Sure.." Jiraya said with a comfused look on his face but shrugged it off as Naruto asked if he had anything to drink. Jiraya nodded and pulled out two bottles of juice and gave one to Naruto.

"Thanks." He said before sipping from the juice bottle. "So what kind of training are we going to do?"

Jiraya shoved the last piece of his sandwich into his mouth and swallowed it, took a sip of his own juice, as much as he personally would prefer sake, before looking up at Naruto. "You're not going to learn any new Justu's or anything," Jiraya began, and almost laughed when he saw the scowl on Naruto's face. "we're gonna focus on your control." Jiraya said.

"Chakra control?" Naruto asked, he never was good with controlling his chakra. That was why he had a hard time making a regular Bunshin, but easily made a thousand Kage Bunshin's.

"..You could say that.." Jiraya said.

"I guess that's good, I've never really been good at controlling my chakra.." Naruto said as he brought his hand up and scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Yes, I'm aware of that. Now, you also have to train on controlling the Kyuubi's chakra. We both know that the seal is weakening, as well as the Akatsuki is after the fox, that's why we will have to focus a lot on controlling _his_ chakra as much as possible." Jiraya said in a serious tone.

"Alright, when does my training start?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"In 10 minutes, so finish your breakfast, take it easy for some minutes, and then we'll start."

Naruto finished his breakfast and laid down for 5 minutes before Jiraya told him it was time for their training to start. Naruto nodded, got up and walked to Jiraya, who was standing in the middle of their training ground. Naruto promised himself that he would try as hard as he could, this was not only because of the fox and the Akatsuki, or for the village he loved, no, it was also because of a promise he made to the girl he love. He promised her he would bring back Sasuke no matter what, and sure as hell was going to!

"So Naruto, to gain control, you must have concentration, that's why we will be meditating the two first hours of this day of training." Jiraya said, getting ready for Naruto's outburst about how boring meditating was.. But it never came. Naruto had suddenly become dead serious, and now he would do all Jiraya said, as long as it was considered training.

"Hai." Naruto said and sat down, crossing his legs and closed his eyes. He listened to the sounds around him. He could hear the water in the river, the slight wind that was in the air, the birds that had just woken up and started singing. Everything was so peaceful, that if Naruto wasn't meditating, he would have fallen asleep.

* * *

"Shizune-san, are you alright?" Sakura asked her.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah.. Just comfused I guess.." Shizune answered Sakura as she realized she was staring into nowhere. She rubbed her head with her right hand before she went back to doing her paperwork on some of the patients she had.

When Sakura saw Shizune like this she got worried for her, and decided to ask her what was wrong. "Shizune-san..? What's the matter? Didn't you get enough sleep last night maybe?"

Shizune stopped doing anything before she looked at Sakura, trying to give her a reassuring smile, but it turned out to be a comfused smile. "Eh, I'm fine! Really! I just had a weird dream last night.." There it was. Shizune promised herself that she wouldn't tell anyone of the 'dream' she had that night. Mostly because if Tsunade were to know, she would most likely break every bone in her body for having a dream like that..

"Oh, really? What was it about?" Sakura asked and Shizune immediately cursed herself. "I know it's none of my business, but saying that, you make me curious."

"Emh.. It was something about.. Ehh.." Since Shizune didn't seem to get to her words, Sakura decided to not bother her with it.

"Never mind." Sakura said with a smile. Shizune smiled back at her with a somewhat thankful look, which Sakura didn't catch. "Anyway, when do you think this person is..- Hey, why are you so red all of a sudden?"

Shizune looked up at Sakura who looked at her with a cocked eyebrow and had a wondering look on her face. "Ehh.."

"It's about that dream right?" _'She didn't dream anything like... THAT, did she? I mean, this is Shizune-san after all, she just seems so harmless!' _

"... It's sort of warm in here, makes me really hot. Let me open a window!" Shizune said as she walked over to the other side of the room to open up not one window, not two, but three windows. "Ehehe.. You don't mind do you?"

"Umm.. No, not at all! In fact it is sort of hot in here.." Sakura said as she brought her right hand up to her chin.

Shizune sighed. At least she managed to get away from the question easily.

"SHIZUNE!" Just great, the last person she needed to see at the moment. The dream she had felt so.. real. She could have swear it happened. But she knew better than to say anything like that to Tsunade.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune said as she turned around to where Tsunade was now standing.

"Why the hell is there so much paperwork on my desk, not only in the office, but at my desk at the hospital as well?! AND WHERE THE HELL IS MY SAKE?!" Tsunade yelled before she noticed two things, well, actually three things.

1: She hadn't done paperwork for the last three days, which probably was the reason to the paperwork on both of her desks.

2: The windows was open in this room, the whole village probably heard her yelling.

3: .. Her students looked pretty scared of her right now. Shizune was probably a little used to this, but Sakura, eh.. no. She had a look of fear on her face.

"..." Tsunade couldn't say anything, even the birds stopped singing outside.

".. Well.. You didn't do your paperwork for the last three days.. So your desk in your office was full... And it would look messy if I put them on the floor.. So I placed the rest of them on your desk here in the hospital.. For the sake.. You should stop drinking at daytime and do your paperwork! Then maybe you could drink at night, like normal people do? With all due respect, Tsunade-sama." Shizune finished her explanation and looked at Sakura who looked back at her with her eyes wide. Never had she thought that someone would be able, or have the courage to say something like that to their new Hokage, and probably the most dangerous one so far. But then again, Shizune had a point, and Shizune had been her apprentice for who knows how long.

"..So what you're saying is that this is all my fault and not the damn people who come with these mission reports?"

"Well.. technically, you give them the mission and ask for a report.." Shizune replied.

"But that wouldn't have happened if there was any missions, now would it?" Tsunade was almost sure she was going to win this little argument.

"... And if there wasn't any missions, there wouldn't be any point in having ninja's."

... Tsunade couldn't top that one. It was true. They couldn't just train people to be ninja, and when they come out of the academy they get send into a war. "... Alright, you win.."

Shizune smiled, "So will you be doing you paperwork?"

"Hmm... no." Shizune and Sakura sweat drooped. "I thought that maybe we could give Sakura some training today. When can you be finished with your paperwork and patients?" Tsunade asked.

Shizune and Sakura looked over their paperwork and the names of the patients they had to check up on. "I guess I could do it in about 45 minutes.. I just have three more papers to fill out and a few patients to check up on." Sakura said and looked up at Tsunade.

"45 minutes." Shizune also said, and Tsunade nodded.

"Alright, meet me in my office in about an hour then." Tsunade said and walked out of the room.

* * *

"ARGH!"

Jiraya screamed as he was hit by a chakrawave with the power he hadn't felt since the Kyuubi attacked the village. And you know what that means right? Yes, Naruto had lost control of the Kyuubi just minutes before they were finished with their training. Naruto had just gone into the four-tailed Kyuubi form. Naruto could maintain control up to the second tail, then things began to get bad when he got the third tail, and even badder when the fourth tail appeared.

"Naruto! You have to stay in control! I know you can do it!" Jiraya screamed as he went up to his feet ready to defend himself if Naruto lost further control. He could swear he saw his eyes flicker from red to blue quickly a few times before staying blood red.

Jiraya did the only thing he could when Naruto charged at him again, he defended himself and even fought back a little. He knew that the shield of chakra around Naruto wasn't defending him, but slowly make so much more damage than Jiraya could at the moment. Jiraya had to do something, and fast!

Jiraya jumped away from one of the tails that were swung at him, and made a Rasengan. He knew that one Rasengan wouldn't be powerful enough to get him out of the four-tailed form, but at least it would make some kind of effect, right? Jiraya ran forward to Naruto in an incredible speed and when he was right in front of him he showed his right hand where he had his Rasengan into his stomach. "RASENGAN!" Jiraya screamed as he slammed the powerful technique made by the fourth Hokage into Naruto's stomach.

Now, Jiraya would never have done that if this was Naruto alone, but Naruto had lost control and the Kyuubi had taken over. In his Kyuubi form, Naruto stumbled backwards a few feet, before letting out a lot of the Kyuubi's chakra along with a loud growl. Jiraya fell to his knees by feeling the powerful and evil chakra of the most powerful demon in the Shinobi world. When he collected himself he got to his feet and ran towards Naruto again. Naruto lifted one of his hands, or whatever, and used his claws to make a huge wound his Jiraya's chest. It was so deep that it would probably leave a big and ugly scar. Jiraya fell down tot he ground when he felt the pain in his chest. It hurt as hell, but it didn't go through his ribs and damaged his heart or any other vital places... He thought.. He wasn't quite sure actually.. He could feel that his ribs hurt like hell, some were maybe even broken.

Jiraya was unable to get up to his feet because of all the pain he felt. Naruto lifted Jiraya up with one of his hands ready give him the final blow. 'Sure, I'm perverted, but it can't be this bad?' Jiraya thought as he saw Naruto lift his other hand, ready to strike. "NARUTO! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF!" He suddenly yelled. The body covered in Kyuubi's chakra tensed. "YOU DON'T WANT TO DO THIS! THIS IS NOT YOU! DO NOT LET THE KYUUBI WIN! YOU'RE STRONG!" Something must have clicked in Naruto's mind at this point, because his eyes were switching between red and blue in an incredible speed. Jiraya saw this as his chance and put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a paper with a seal on it, he then slammed it into Naruto's forehead.

The Kyuubi's chakra began to disappear and both Naruto and Jiraya fell to the ground.

* * *

Konoha was usually a peaceful place.. that was until now.

All of Konoha could suddenly feel the powerful and evil chakra. People who survived the Kyuubi attack 13 years ago had a terrified look on their face. Kids that was born after the Kyuubi attack didn't understand anything, but was scared out of their mind because of the huge power the chakra held, and as if that wasn't enough, they saw that their parents, family, or anyone older than them were terrified, and that didn't help one bit!

* * *

Kurenai and Asuma had decided to train their teams together today, so they met up at team eight's training ground. Their teams seemed to train good together, however Kiba got a little unlucky when he commented on Chouji's weight.

Then they felt it.

Kurenai and Asuma's head shot up to look at each other as they started to tremble slightly. "Did you feel that?" Kurenai asked, fear showing on her face. Asuma nodded, also showing fear on his face.

"What the hell was that sensei!?" Ino shouted.

Kurenai and Asuma still looked at each other before putting on the most calm expression they could and turned to their students. "It was nothing, Ino." Asuma said. Shikamaru could hear that he had problems to talk without having his voice fail him.

* * *

"MY GREATEST RIVAL KAKASHI! HOW ARE YOU IN THIS YOUTHFUL DAY?"

"Hmm? I'm good.." Said Kakashi and focused on his book once again.

Gai eyed the book Kakashi read, and got curious when Kakashi let out perverted giggles every now and then. Kakashi noticed Gai looking at him and his beloved book, "It's a good book."

"I BET I CAN READ IT FIVE TIMES FASTER THAN YOU!" Gai yelled and gave Kakashi his nice guy pose.

Kakashi sighed and pulled out another book from his pocket, and threw it to Gai. This was a challenge after all.

"YOSH GAI-SENSEI! SHOW HIM HOW YOUTHFUL YOU ARE!" Lee yelled in support of his sensei.

Gai opened the book and started to read it. With every page his face got redder and redder. Kakashi eyed him out of the corner of his eye, while he kept reading in his normal speed. Gai's face went from red to snow white when he along with Kakashi and his own team felt the chakrawave. Even with his mask on, everyone could see that even Kakashi got surprised.. and even scared..? 'Naruto..'

* * *

"Tsunade-sama.. I know you just finished your paperwork.. But you know there will be new students attending the academy next week.. So you'll have some papers to fill out and a meeting with the main teacher of the upcoming class." Shizune said as Tsunade looked up at her from behind her desk. Sakura stood beside Shizune. They had finished training and she was so exhausted. Surely, this kind of training would go better with time - she just hoped it wouldn't be THAT hard of a workout.

Tsunade sighed, "I guess your right.. Call Iruka here. I'm sure he is at the academy." Tsunade said and Shizune went out of the room. Tsunade then looked at the very exhausted Sakura. "Sakura, you did better than I expected today. I'm really proud of you." Tsunade smiled.

Sakura smiled back at her new sensei, "Thank you."

"So how are things going?" Tsunade asked out of the blue.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"How are things going for you. Your supposed to be my apprentice, I need to know you!" Tsunade said as seriously she could muster, but then her face turned into a smile.

Sakura blinked a few times before she smiled, "It's good." She wasn't over Sasuke yet, and she didn't really want to talk about it. She also knew very well that he didn't love her like she loved him – He hadn't said he loved her when he left, he just said 'thank you'. Maybe he was grateful for her love, but he didn't love her back. She also believed in Naruto. She had gotten the chance to see an whole other side of him after the academy. That was probably because she started to pay more attention to him and less to Sasuke, and got to know him. When she thought about it, Naruto was probably one of her best friends.

Tsunade sighed, "Listen, Sakura, I know the whole Sasuke-thing is hard for you. I went through the same thing when I was a little older then you. It was much of the same situation, but I learned to move on. I know you can do that to."

Sakura looked at her, "Really?"

Tsunade sighed again, and it was almost as if she was annoyed, "Yes. I too thought I loved this person. But I know it was just a silly crush, and like all the other girls around, I thought I loved him. So when he betrayed Konoha I was heartbroken for quite some time."

"If you don't mind me asking, who was that per- oh.."

"Yeah, believe it or not, I was a fangirl to that snake. But at that time, he wasn't just evil. He changed with time. However, I Had people who helped me with this loss, the same as you have." Tsunade said and smiled. Sakura could immediately understand that she was referring to Naruto, herself, Shizune, Ino, and all her other friends.

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama." Sakura said and smiled. She started to feel as if Tsunade was like a mother to her.

"You should know you can come to me anytime, Sakura. You can tell or ask me anything. I want you to know that you can trust me, and to repay that, I trust you as well." Tsunade said and smiled at her. '_you'll get far, Sakura.'_

Tsunade looked at the clock. It had gone 3 minutes since Shizune had gone to get Iruka, so she would probably be back in 15 minutes. Give or take a few minutes. "Is it alright for you if a stay here until Iruka-sensei comes? I would like to say hi to him.." Sakura asked carefully. Tsunade nodded her head yes and started to smile for herself and opened the drawer in her desk and took out a sake bottle. "You know it isn't smart to drink sake in the middle of the day, jet alone before a meeting." Sakura said as Tsunade poured down a cup of sake. "You might make decisions you regret later, and if you drink to o much you'll have a really bad hangover."

Tsunade looked at her apprentice then down at her sake. She really wanted sake, but she had a point. "I guess your right.." Tsunade said and put her sake bottle back into the drawer. Just then someone knocked on the door and in came Shizune and Iruka. Tsunade sent Sakura a thankful look before she turned towards Iruka and Shizune, who had her hands full of papers. Tsunade sighed when she saw them, the paperwork kept coming.

"Iruka-sensei!" Sakura said happily as Iruka came into the room. Iruka looked at her and smiled.

"Sakura! How are you? I haven't seen you in some time." Iruka said with a grin on his face.

"Iruka was just downstairs with the papers, so that's why were here so soon." Shizune said to Tsunade.

"Alright, thank you Shizune." Tsunade said.

"I just finished my training with Tsunade-sama and Shizune-san!" Sakura said excitedly.

"You what..?" Iruka said in a low and surprised voice.

"You taught one smart girl on the academy, Iruka – she learns fast." Tsunade said with a smile on her face. She seemed to smile a lot today.

"You mean... Congratulations Sakura!" Iruka said when he got the picture. Sakura giggled and smiled.

Tsunade looked over the names for the kids that would enter the academy. "What an interesting bunch.. Hyuuga, Inuzuka.. Even my sensei's grandson is going in this year?" Tsunade then remembered the little 'accident' she and Konohamaru had when she first came back to the village as the fifth Hokage. "Brat..." She muttered under her breath.

"Konohamaru is very close to Naruto, isn't he?" Sakura asked Iruka. Iruka nodded.

_'Now I know where that comes from..' _

Suddenly a wave of evil chakra hit them. Iruka was frozen to the floor and didn't move an inch, Shizune started trembling, Sakura had a confused and even scared look on her face while Tsunade gripped the side of her desk so hard it nearly broke. "What the hell..." Tsunade whispered to herself. She looked out of the window and out on the village – people were running in the street screaming. Children were crying while parents and adults were looking scared out of their mind.

Tsunade, Shizune and Iruka immediately looked at each other with a worried look on their faces. "What is going on?" Sakura asked just before the door crashed open and Sarutobi's old teammates came rushing in.

"Now it has gone to far, Tsunade!" They yelled at her. Everyone in the room except Tsunade was shocked. Soon the room filled with Jounin and even some Chuunin.

The room became very noise with all the questions and yelling. Anyone who even paid attention to Tsunade could see that she was boiling with anger. She raised her fist and smashed it down at the desk causing it to shatter into pieces. That made everyone in the room shut up. "Everybody calm **DOWN!**" Tsunade yelled.

"What has happened? Why do we feel _that_ chakra all of a sudden?!" a random Jounin yelled.

"Sakura, could you please leave this room? You're not ready to hear this." Tsunade said as she had her eyes on the small crowd in front of her. Sakura nodded and walked out of the room after bowing for Tsunade and the other Chuunin and Jounin in the room. When she had left the room, another Jounin spoke up.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Alright, everyone shut up!" Tsunade said as she stood in front of the ninja's with her hands on her hips. "If I'm right, you only felt the chakra for about 10 to 20 seconds. If anything dangerous was happening, you would feel it nonstop!"

"I agree. As long as we don't feel the chakra anymore, there's nothing to be scared of." Shika Nara said.

"So you are saying nothing happened?!" A Chuunin yelled.

"I never said that. But I believe there is nothing dangerous to this." Shika answered.

"I agree with you, I think the danger is out of the picture. But surely something has happened.." Asuma said to one of his students' father.

The ones who knew Naruto personally and believed that he certainly was a hero of the village and not the demon itself got both a sad and a worried look on their faces. Some of them had problems showing that, while others just let their face talk for them. _'Of course something has happened..' _Tsunade thought and looked at the ninja's in the room.

"Alright, everybody but the people I say the names of are going to make the village sure there is nothing bad going on and everything is going to be fine. I'll tell them later on." Tsunade said. When she had said the names of the people she wanted to stay in the room, the one's who didn't hear their names went out and did as they were told.

The one's who were left in the room were people such as Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai, Asuma, Anko, Iruka, Shizune, Shika, Chouza, Hiashi, Tsume, Ibiki, and Inoichi. "Alright,the reason I made you stay is because you either care for Naruto in some way, or believe in him as a human and not a demon, am I correct?" Everybody nodded. "That's why I want you to move out outside of Konoha. Jiraya took Naruto out there for training today, and that is most likely why we've-" Tsunade never got to finish as she heard somebody land in the windowsill. Tsunade turned around and saw a very bloody and beat up Jiraya, with a very beat up, bloody and burned Naruto on his back. Just as Jiraya fell down from the window and into the room, Tsunade and Shizune caught them. Tsunade and Shizune did a fast check of their wounds and they didn't like it. "New plans! Kakashi, Anko and Kurenai! You are going to the hospital and get the nurses that I say the names of, and that fast. Those are the ones that I trust the most on the hospital. Gai, Asuma, Shika, Chouza, Hiashi, Tsume, Ibiki and Inoichi you go out and help the others in calming down the villagers!" Tsunade said in a demanding voice.

"M..make s-sure Nar..uto is alright f..first.." Said Jiraya as the others left to do what their Hokage ordered them to.

"Do you think Sakura could be to any help here now, Tsunade-sama?" Iruka asked.

"She would, but I'm not letting her see this. She is suffering enough already as it is, and I don't want to make it worse. Iruka, you go to the academy and help the other teachers calm the students and eventually their parents." Tsunade said as her hand began to glow green over Jiraya's chest. Shizune was currently working on Naruto.

"He has burns all over his body, his chakra are dangerously low, he has several wounds and cuts and a few broken ribs. His condition is very critical." Shizune reported.

"Jiraya, what the hell happened!?" Tsunade asked as the wound on his chest started to bleed a little less.

"W-"

"DON'T TALK! YOU'LL MAKE YOUR CONDITION WORSE!" Tsunade yelled at him.

_'Jeez.. You really have to make a choice old lady..' _Jiraya thought as Tsunade healed him.

The nurses appeared and helped Tsunade and Shizune to get Naruto and Jiraya into a somewhat stable condition before they rushed them to the hospital.

* * *

"How are they?" Sakura asked worried. Naruto and Jiraya laid in their own beds on the same room. Jiraya only had bandages around his chest and arms, while Naruto was bandaged almost from top to bottom, and he also had so man wires attached to him. He even had a oxygen mask on so he could breathe completely.

"Well, they are both in stable conditions. Jiraya is better off than Naruto though. But they'll both get well." Tsunade said as they looked at the two forms.

"..What happened to them?" Sakura asked, tears threatening to appear in her eyes as she looked up at Tsunade.

Tsunade cursed under her breath. This was the question she didn't want to be asked. Now she had to lie to her. "Sakura.. Do you remember that chakrawave we felt earlier today?" Sakura nodded. "Well.. They were pretty close to the source of that.. You're not ready to hear the rest. I'm sorry." Sakura nodded and looked at Naruto. His skin wasn't that red and burned anymore, but it was still very red and probably very soar.

The door opened and Shizune came in. "How are they?" She asked.

"Stable. As you see neither of them has woken up yet. We have to make sure both of them are comfortable, and we also need to make sure Naruto's skin is treated right – Chakra burns can hurt really bad. I've had some on my arms, and it hurt like hell. Now Naruto has it all over his body." Tsunade said.

"I see. It's a good thing though that they aren't worse." Shizune said.

"It is.."

"Oh, Tsunade-sama.. The council want a meeting with you. It seems to be urgent matter."

"About what?" Tsunade asked, even though she knew perfectly well what they wanted to talk about. And it was probably only Koharu and Homaru who wanted the meeting.

"About the incident earlier.." Shizune said in a low voice. She didn't like this either.

Tsunade sighed, "Alright.. Let's go Shizune. Sakura, could you look out for Naruto and Jiraya for a while? If anything bad happens, call for one of these nurses." Tsunade said and gave her a paper with some names on it.

Sakura bowed, "Hai." Tsunade and Shizune then walked out of the room. Sakura turned and looked at Naruto. She walked over to him and carefully felt his forehead. He was really hot! She turned around and put her hands down into the bucket with cold water. She pulled out a washcloth and placed it gently on his forehead. She then walked over to Jiraya. He had a fever, so she placed a washcloth on his forehead as well.

"Yo." She suddenly heard a voice coming from the door. She turned around and saw Kakashi there, without reading his book for once!

"Hi Kakashi-sensei." Sakura said and smiled.

"How are they?" He asked.

"They're both stable. Jiraya's better than Naruto though."

"Alright, that's good to hear. Have either of them woken up yet?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura was about to say no but then they heard Jiraya give out a low cough. They looked in his direction and saw that he was trying to sit up. Both of them rushed over to him. "Jiraya-sama, you shouldn't do that, you should stay in bed." Sakura said in a polite voice.

Eventually, Jiraya sat up in bed. His hands was resting on his knees as he tried to find a comfortable position to sit in. "No can do." he said, "Where's Tsunade? I've gotta speak to her."

"Well.. She's at a meeting with the council.. I don't know when the meeting is finished, but she said she would come back here right after the meeting."

"I have to talk to her now." He said and tried to stand up.

"You can't! You have to stay in bed!" Sakura protested. However, one look from both Jiraya and Kakashi made her let him go.

"This is urgent, I have to speak with her. Kakashi, you have to help me, that is an order."

"Hai." Kakashi said and took jiraya's left arm around his shoulder and helped him walk. "Keep an eye on Naruto, Sakura." Kakashi said. Sakura nodded.

"I will.."

Unknown to them, Naruto had just become conscious, and he had a feeling he knew what the meeting was about. However, before he could do anything, even as much as open his eyes, he fell unconscious again.

* * *

Naruto, Jiraya, Tsunade and Shizune stood just outside of Konoha's gates. They all looked sad, but Naruto tried to sheer them up. "It's not that bad." He said. He was sad about leaving, but now he couldn't do anything about it. The least thing he could do was to try and sheer them up a little.

"Not that bad? Naruto! They banished you from the village!" Tsunade said in a low voice. They were out here in all secret, and nobody else but them and the council knew about this. They, and Danzo.

"Yeah.. But at least we can make the best out of the situation." Naruto said.

"And what do you mean by that?" Tsunade asked, her hands on her hips. When she didn't get an answer she sighed and pulled him into a hug. Naruto was a little shocked by the sudden act, but eventually hugged back. "Well, make sure you're alright." She said as she had her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "You better!" She then said and kissed his forehead.

"Make sure you write to us one way or another from time to time, alright?" Shizune said and when she got a nod from Naruto she smiled and hugged him as well.

"Now you two take care. I don't want anything bad happening to you!" Tsunade said. _'His dreams must have been crashed now..' _Tsunade thought sadly to herself.

"Nothing bad is gonna happen to us! I'm gonna be Hokage one day after all!" Naruto said and smiled. Tsunade looked up and noticed that Jiraya and Naruto had already started walking away. She smiled to herself.

_'Maybe not.'_

* * *

Jeez.. I used such a long time on this first chapter! 18 pages in total!

So this is the first chapter of **'The still-living dream.' **Tell me what you think of it!

I'm having slight problems in making a full story plot.. usually when I get an idea for a story, it's right in the middle, never the start or the ending! So if you have any suggestions under the way feel free to share them!

I'm also thinking about which pairings I'm gonna have in this story. You can also somewhat help me decide that. You already know NaruSaku, and I'm gonna put in Asuma and Kurenai as a couple.. Shikamaru and Temari would most likely become a couple if I decide to throw them in as a couple. Then there's probably going to be some KibaHina..

I'm not quite sure yet. You could also ask for a specific couple, and if I like it, and other readers want it as well, I'll probably put it into the story.

I don't know when the next chapter is going to come, school is really giving me a hard time as we are getting to the most important test's of this half year, and I have been home at least 2/4 of the schooldays this school year. So you can blame school, maybe the sun if the nice weather appears this year(Which it didn't last year), I go quite a lot to the hospital and my doctor, but that is something I can't skip. Then it's life itself.

Anyway, thanks for reading!

And by the way, the flashback in the beginning of the story, I have that as a one-shot in the JirTsu area.. thingy.. That's why you might have seen it before. : )


	2. Chapter 2

**The still-living dream.**

**A/N; **A BIG thanks to the three people who actually took their time to review. I wish there were some more reviews, but anyway.. The great ones are; FamousFox89, No.1 Knuckle-Headed Ninja and Kunaithower3000.

I don't have a big idea of how this story will go. What I need is suggestions, and if you give me some, this story will get a lot better than if I just write stupid things that come up in my head. So I have some questions that I would **REALLY** like you to answer;

Naruto will eventually go back to Konoha somehow, and I have an idea to how he is coming back, even if it is for a really short time. (The still living dream, you should've figured it out.) Should I write EVERYTHING that happens before that? I mean, we're talking several years here. Or should I write maybe 1-3 chapters of training, his travel, ect. And then jump forward, or what?

Sasuke.. I have four options for him;

- He dies

-Naruto brings him back and he stays as.. well, like himself.

-Naruto brings him back and he has gotten nicer over the years.

- Or should he still be a threat to Konoha?

Which other pairings should there be in this freakin' story?

If you answer these questions, then maybe this story will be more like you want it!

Anyways, here's the next chapter;

* * *

"Ne... Ero-sennin..."

Jiraya sighed, he really wanted Naruto to stop calling him that. But he couldn't bring himself to say that to him now. After all... Naruto had just been banished a few hours ago. "What is it Naruto?" He instead asked, with a smile he hoped would keep the mood up. Naruto was actually himself, not as much, but he was still himself. He hadn't gone over to be a killing machine wanting revenge. And he hadn't let the Kyuubi take over his body either..

Jiraya sighed again, this was all his fault. If he hadn't made Naruto train today, he wouldn't have leaked out so much of Kyuubi's chakra that the whole village felt the power and killing intent. _'I'm sorry... Minato... I've failed you...' _

"Oh, nothing, I just thought that you were sleepwalking or something.. You were so quiet, and you kept looking down... Is something wrong?" Naruto asked.

Naruto wasn't really the brightest person he knew. Sleepwalking...? Naruto didn't seem to blame him at all.. The boy was so forgiving.. Maybe even too forgiving.. "Sleepwalking? Me? THE GREAT JIRAYA-SAMA? NO WAY!" Jiraya said and put on a proud smile and lifted his body as he began to walk a little faster.

"Eh? EY! Wait up!"

* * *

This was her third bottle of sakè this morning. Did she care? No.

"Tsunade-sama... Is it really that wise of you to be drinking this much, and in the morning nonetheless..." Sakura asked as she looked up from the homework Tsunade had given her the same morning. She was given questions about different things, like chakra, what should you do questions and stuff like that.

Tsunade looked up at her second apprentice. "It's not wise of me to be drinking this early in the morning, but I don't care!"

Sakura looked concerned at Shizune, who looked up from her paperwork and looked back at Sakura after taking a quick glance on her master. Shizune sighed, "Just let her be.. She needs this.."

Sakura was shocked. This was the first time she had heard Shizune say yes to Tsunade drinking, and now s he even said it was alright for her to drink this early in the morning! "Did something happen?" Sakura asked carefully.

Tsunade sighed as she finished her third bottle of Sakè. She looked over at Sakura and saw her concerned face. _'Should I tell her..?'_ "How is your work over there going?" Tsunade asked instead.

Sakura looked at her homework, "It's going great. I actually know all of this from before.. But I have one question though, if I could ask?"

"Alright, bring it." Tsunade said and decided there was enough Sakè for... This morning.

"I know that the 4th Hokage killed the Kyuubi when it attacked 13 years ago, but according to some books I've read, It's extremely hard to kill a demon, and the Kyuubi was the strongest of the 9 demons.. Do you know how the 4th Hokage killed the Kyuubi? I've always wondered..."

Both Tsunade and Shizune froze for a short time. Naruto has just gotten banished because of that thing inside of him, and now they had to lie to Sakura as well. Shizune looked at Tsunade, wondering what she would do. She was also a little nervous about what Tsunade would say, after all, she had just drunk three bottles of Sakè. "Sakura... I don't know if you're ready for this.."

_'Oh my god, is she going to tell her? Is Tsunade-sama saying this because she is drunk, or is it because of something else?!' _"Tsunade-sama! You can't be serious!" Shizune nearly yelled. This only made Sakura more interested in what Tsunade was going to say, and after getting one look from Tsunade, Shizune understood that this was not Tsunade being drunk.

"What.. is it?" Sakura asked a little unsecured.

Tsunade sighed once again, "Sakura, you have to promise me with your heart that you wont tell a soul about this- not even your best friend, the blond girl.. Ino, if I remember right.."

Sakura nodded, "Well... What stands in those books are true. The nine tailed demon is impossible to kill. The 4th Hokage was a genius and probably the greatest and strongest Hokage Konoha have ever had.. But not even he could kill the demon."

"I don't understand... How come the village isn't destroyed? Surely if the demon wasn't killed, it would have destroyed the whole village." Sakura stated confused.

"That.. Is correct. The 4th Hokage wasn't able to kill the demon, but he was able to win the fight. However, there were big consequences. He sealed the nine-tailed fox into a newborn child. Using a technique that killed him in the process." Tsunade answerd. She had problems with making the words come out right and in an understandable way for the young girl. She didn't trust her voice, she was talking about Naruto after all, and she had failed to protect him.

"How horrible... How could someone manage to have a thing like that inside of their body?" Sakura said, not being able to picture anyone with something like that inside of them.

"That needs a lot of strength, willpower and love. If you don't have love, the two other things will weaken, in most cases.." Tsunade said as a picture of Naruto came to her mind with the big grin on his face. He didn't have love in his first years, but still he pulled through. Sure, Sarutobi might have been there from time to time, but he didn't have anyone who took care of him and cared for him through every moment of his life. Somehow, he still held his strength up, and his willpower became only stronger with each day. "You'll eventually become a killing machine."

Sakura didn't say anything. "However, the Jinchuuriki of Konoha didn't. He was one of the most determined boy you can come across."

Sakura smiled, "Well that's good!" Tsunade smiled and nodded.

"Well, I guess I should go to the hospital and take my shift.. Naruto is probably there hurt anyway..! Sakura said and giggled. Tsunade and Shizune cringed.

"... You wont find him, Sakura.." Tsunade said slowly. Sakura turned around and looked at her master and teacher. She seemed... sad.. More than she had ever seen her.. Well, Sakura hadn't known her for a long time, but she could see that something was bothering her.. A lot..

"W-what do you mean?"

Tsunade sighed as a tear fell from her left eye. She looked over to Shizune who also had tears falling from her eyes. "Naruto... He is gone.." Shizune said.

Now Sakura turned around to face her master and her other apprentice, "Gone..? What do you mean gone?!" Sakura gasped, "He's alright, right? Nothing bad has happened?!"

Tsunade hesitated, this girl had just lost one of her teammates, and now the other one got banished. "He is alright, Sakura.. But he's not in the village anymore.."

Not in the village anymore? NO! He couldn't have left the village too? "Why not?" Sakura asked, her voice shaky.

Tsunade sighed and placed her head in her hands. "You remember that huge chakrawave we felt earlier?" Sakura nodded, "That was from the Kyuubi.." Tsunade wasn't able to say anything else before Gai kicked open the door to the office.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS UNYOUTHFULNESS?!" Gai yelled.

Sakura stared out in nowhere before her face changed to a somewhat sad, scared and confused face. "You don't mean..?" She looked up at Tsunade who looked right back at her, not really knowing what to expect from her.

Flashbacks of Sakura treating Naruto so bad during all those years came rushing back into her mind. All the times she rejected him, all the times he tried to talk to her, and she only snapped at him and went after Sasuke, and all the times when she laughed at him. She never really hated him... It was just that... Everybody else was like that to him, and soon it became a habit.. She never thought it would hurt him that much, since he always walked around with a smile on his face.

Sakura leaned against the wall behind her and placed her right hand on her face as everything started to spin..

How could she do something like that to him? He never did anything to deserve it!

That was when everything went black.

* * *

"Alright Naruto. I have some bad news.." Jiraya said as they were seated in a restaurant just outside fire country. Naruto looked up from his dinner, which was not ramen for once. "The council only allow me to stay with you for one year. After that, I have to go back to the village for at least 6 months at a time, of course, this is not the case if I have a mission, and when I'm off to see you, I only have one week to be with you, train, do whatever you want really.."

Naruto sighed, "Do the council really think that I will turn you to the 'evil' side?"

Jiraya sighed as well, "Apparently.. But remember, you have people who love you and know who you really are, so don't let the council get into you."

"What exactly did the council say?" Naruto asked, actually a little curious.

Jiraya looked at him. "Well, not everyone wanted to banish you. There were people who see you as who you truly are, like the Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Aburame, Hyuuga and Inuzuka. However, there were some clans that voted for you to be banished and **Homura** and **Koharu** also voted for you to be banished, so neither me, Tsunade or anyone else could do much to stop it.. I'm sorry, Naruto.. I guess I've failed you.."

Naruto looked at Jiraya in a hurry, "What? No no! I understand! You haven't failed me, nobody has."

Jiraya looked at Naruto in disbelief, "Really?" Naruto nodded.

"...So.. the Hyuuga clan actually voted for me to stay...?" Naruto asked, not fully believing it. The Hyuuga's he could think of that didn't have anything against him was Hinata and Neji.

"Yes, you have proved yourself to many of the people in the village Naruto. The Hyuuga's are one of the clans you've proved yourself to." Jiraya said with a smile.

Naruto smiled and went back to his food when a waitress walked up to them. "Would you like a refill?" Naruto and Jiraya looked up at the waitress and nodded before they gave her their glasses. She was a beautiful woman with the perfect body, blue eyes and long, curly black hair.

"So when are we going to start my training?" Naruto asked and looked and Jiraya. Jiraya stood up.

"Tomorrow, It's late. Well, I'm just going to use the restroom, then we can go." Jiraya walked towards the toilettes. Not soon after the waitress came with their glasses full of coke and sakè.

The waitress looked around, "Where did the man who was with you go?" The waitress asked.

"He went to get ready for the refill." Naruto said and smiled. The waitress laughed and was about to go, but then she spotted some people coming into the restaurant.

"Oh no..." She said slowly and weakly. This got Naruto's attention,and he turned around to look at the people that had just entered. There was 5 guys, probably around 30-40 years old. Naruto could feel everyone in the restaurant stopping doing what they were doing and tried their best to not to be noticed by the 5 men.

"What's their deal?" Naruto asked the waitress who was still frozen beside Naruto.

"Their a gang that comes to town every now and then. They practically ruin the whole town, steal food and beer, set buildings on fire and so on." She looked down at Naruto, "Their not only 5 people, they are around 15 people, but I guess this is the 'top 5' of the group."

"So that means that the leader is one of those.." Naruto said to himself. He soon figured out who was the leader when one of them smacked one of the women who tried to walk out of the restaurant on the butt. The others soon started to laugh and yell. Naruto stood up from his seat. _'son of a..!'_

The leader was too busy looking at the womans butt that he didn't notice Naruto standing up from his chair. "That's a nice piece of ass you have there!" He yelled after her. Suddenly, he felt something hit the back of his head and slowly going down his neck. Everyone in the restaurant gasped. He turned around. "WHO DID THAT?!"

Naruto stood there with his hands in his pockets. His clothes were all black and didn't have any orange in it. Naruto looked around himself then shrugged, "I guess it was me, nobody else is in the range of hitting you that perfectly."

The man walked over to Naruto and glared at him all the way. Everyone in the restaurant got not only scared of the look he was giving him, but they were scared of what they would do to Naruto. However, Naruto only stood there with his hands still in his pockets. The man then lifted Naruto up by his collar. "Who do you think you are brat?" Naruto didn't do anything now either, he just looked at the old man. "Who do you think you are, SHRIMP!?"

"Who's looking down on who?" Naruto asked. The man actually held him so high he was looking down at the man. The man got even angrier and threw Naruto sideways towards a table where a family of 4 were sitting. Naruto was thrown towards the table, but just as he was about to hit the side of the table, he grabbed it and back flipped onto the table and placed his hands in his pockets again. "Seriously, what's your problem?"

"You think you can save this town, brat?!" The leader once again yelled.

"Jeez, what do you expect me to do..?" Naruto asked, then he made a pose, "NOBODY FEAR, NARUTO IS HEAR!!" He then went back to having his hands in his pockets, "It just sounds weird."

"You... BRAT!" One of the gang members yelled, apparently pissed, and launched at him with a punch. Naruto got his hands up from his pockets and easily blocked the punch with his right hand, then slapped the man right in the face with his palm with his other. The man went tumbling backwards and held his face hard. Naruto had probably just broken his nose. The man removed his hand for a moment and looked at the blood on his hand. The mom at the table gasped and looked up at Naruto, while the two children, two boys looked at him like he was some kind of hero. Their dad looked at the gang member and grinned. "You broke my nose!"

Naruto took a look at his nose from the table, "It looks much better now, no problem!" He grinned and jumped down from the table.

"YOU! DO NOT MOVE!" The gang leader said. Naruto gave him a 'why not' look. He grabbed a kid from his side and put a knife to his throat. "OR I'LL SLIT HIS THROAT!"

Naruto laughed. "Really?" Then the boy pooffed and in his place were a clone of Naruto. His clone then disappeared.

"What the-!" The man who held the clone yelled in surprise when he didn't feel anything but air.

"RASENGAN!" Naruto suddenly yelled, and you could see a clone of Naruto poof away and Naruto running towards the leader with the ball of chakra in his hand. He pushed the ball of chakra into the leaders gut and he flew several meters backwards. He crashed through the main door and out to the streets.

The gang members stared wide eyed at their leader, then at Naruto. They slowly backed away and when they reached their leader they saw how big the damage truly was. They then picked up their leader and ran off. Naruto rolled his eyes and turned around. He saw the waitress stare at him shocked, but soon she smiled at him. Soon he figured out that everyone else did the same thing in the restaurant. Naruto gave them his usual foxy smile and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Just then Jiraya walked into the room and he saw the damage that had been made. "What happened here?" He asked. Then everyone started cheering. Jiraya smiled sheepishly, "Ey, all I did was to go to the toilet! But thank you!" However, everyone ignored Jiraya.

The waitress walked up to Naruto and gave him a kiss on his cheek, "You saved us all! Thank you so much!" Naruto blushed and placed his right hand on his cheek where she had kissed him.Soon, he was mobbed by people.

"What the..?" Jiraya asked himself, but then he smiled. Naruto must have done something again, something good. He lifted his coup with Sakè and drank it all at once. Then, he passed out. Everyone became quiet.

Naruto looked towards him, "Wow...!" He said and made his way through the crowd and sat down next to the unconscious body of Jiraya the pervert. "Jesus..." Naruto said and sighed.

"Is he ok?" The waitress asked. She watched Naruto poke his forehead and she giggled.

"He's out cold!" Naruto said and straightened his back. "Helloooo?" He then tried, but no answer. Then Naruto spilled his soda over Jiraya's face, but he still didn't get any response. Then an idea came to mind. "You know... Baa-chan is falling out of that window and you're just laying there..." He said. THAT was when Jiraya reacted and he woke up at once.

"What?!" He yelled/asked sound VERY drunk.

"You were unconscious, I needed to wake you up." Naruto said as if it were the most normal thing in the world. Jiraya sighed and tried to stand up, but he fell backwards. Luckily, Naruto catched him and helped him stand up. "You've gained weight, Ero-sennin!"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT AROUND PEOPLE!" he said before his face drooped and he seemed to fall asleep.

Naruto frowned, "Now how am I supposed to get you to the hotel you pervert!?"

* * *

Sorry it's late, and I'm sorry it's shorter than the first chapter. I really wanted this to get this out tonight. Tomorrow I have a test, then I need to take my music test because I wasn't on school last Friday. It's really late, it's like 10.30 PM. And I'm sorry for the crappiness of the last part of the chapter, I'm really tired. Maybe I'll re-write it sometime, however, now, I'm off to bed:P

Please leave a review!


	3. Chapter 3

**The still living dream**

**A/N; **Thank you again to the people who have taken their time to review the last chapter; **adlex47Liger0****,****twin083****, ****Jairo1, kunaithower3000, RealyManlyPimps, FamousFox89, tom308, Namikaze's First, Starfire99, Nebula1701, Cloud Ex-SOILDER, xXbeautifullyshatteredXx,**

_**Here's a little poll for you;**_

**Sasuke;**

Dies- 1

Back to Konoha and has gotten nicer over the years- 1

Back to Konoha and stayed the same- 1

Still a threat to Konoha- 1

**Pairings;**

Kibahina-2

Shikatema- 2

KakashiAnko- 1

KibaIno- 1

ChouIno- 1

GaaMat-1

NejiTen- 1

ShikaIno- 1

If you have some other pairings you would like to see, tell me along with a review and I'll add it to this poll! Remember, to get your favorite pairings in the story, you'll have to vote!

I decided to write a few chapters about Naruto's training and so on, nobody commented on that.

* * *

Jiraya never woke up, and it ended with Naruto and Jiraya staying at the waitress' apartment which was just a few blocks away from the restaurant. It was much easier than dragging him all the way to the other side of town to their hotel. Not long after Jiraya had passed out, Naruto learned the waitress' name, it was Mitsu. She was 20 years old and lived alone in her apartment, but her parent's lived on the other side of town. Mitsu had been very kind, giving Naruto and Jiraya a room with two beds and letting them stay there for as long as they needed.

Naruto sat in the kitchen with Mitsu who gave him a soda. "Thank you." He said and he received a smile from her.

"So your a ninja, huh? That's really cool, which village are you from?" She asked as she drank for her own coup with soda.

"Yeah, I'm only a Genin though.. And I've been a ninja for about a year now. I'm a ninja from Konoha! Wait.. I might not have the right to say that anymore..." He finished with a low tone.

Mitsu gave him a confused look, "Why? What do you mean? Surely, when you are a ninja from Konoha, you have the right to say you are so.. right?"

"I don't.. I have just recently been banished.. But I haven't done anything wrong! It's just.." Naruto couldn't bring himself to tell her why he was banished, they had just met, she had invited them to stay for as long as they needed, which meant they didn't need to stay at a hotel, and he wasn't sure if she would think the same way about him if she knew he was the jailer of the Kyuubi.. He didn't want to lose another friend.

"What..? They banished you? Oh.. If you don't feel like talking about it, you don't have to. Just remember that you can come and talk to me if there is anything, alright?" She finished with a smile.

Naruto smiled and nodded. "Thanks, I'll remember that. And right back at you!"

Mitsu looked at the clock and saw that it already was 10.30 PM, "Oh! It's this late already? I have to get up early tomorrow. I'll go to bed then. You should too, aren't you going to train tomorrow with Jiraya-sama? You should get a good night sleep anyway." Mitsu said and stood up from her chair, "Well, goodnight Naruto-kun."

"Goodnight.."

* * *

"Ready to train today Naruto?" Jiraya asked Naruto as he walked out of the bathroom.

"Yeah!" Naruto said excitedly.

"Well, I can't train you on an empty stomach, and you can't train on a empty stomach, so let's have a big healthy breakfast... Where are we, by the way? This doesn't look like a hotel." Jiraya asked when he didn't recognize the house.

"That's right, you passed out! Well, remember that waitress that gave us our orders at the restaurant? This is her apartment, her name is Mitsu. She said we could stay as long as we wanted to. She said it was a thanks for saving the restaurant and the people from the gang yesterday... I actually have gotten to know her pretty well." Jiraya just stared at him. At first, he couldn't remember anything about a gang.. Well.. Actually he didn't.. but he remembered when all those people thanked Naruto. Not only did he do that, but now they also had a place to stay for free. Naruto seemed to become friends with Mitsu and that was one of the things he needed now that he was in his situation.

"Really? Well that's great! I'll have to thank her then! I haven't properly introduced myself yet." Jiraya said.

"Well, the restaurant is not far away from here, I guess we could go there for breakfast. Mitsu has already gone to work." Naruto said and picked up the key that was on the table. Jiraya agreed and they walked out of the apartment and locked the door before they walked down the streets towards the restaurant. As they walked down the streets people started pointing at them. Naruto could feel that it wasn't in a bad way. It was nowhere near what he experienced in Konoha, it was almost like they admired them. Jiraya looked weird at the people pointing at them.

"Why are they pointing at us? AH! Do I have something in my face?" Jiraya asked Naruto, scared that people was pointing at him because of that.

"Well.. you have red painting in your face.." Naruto began, "Or maybe they know your a super pervert, Ero-sennin."

"EY! I've told you not to call me that! Especially around people! And for your information, the painting I have in my face is important!"

"..Right.."

Jiraya brought his hand up to his chin and made a thinking pose, "I think that it has something with your fight with the gang yesterday.."

Naruto looked at him, "Or it could be because pretty much the whole town saw Mitsu-chan and I drag you unconscious away from the restaurant."After he said that, he shrugged and kept walking.

When Naruto and Jiraya walked into the the restaurant and saw Mitsu taking the orders of a family, a mom, dad and a young boy around the age 8. When she heard someone enter the restaurant she looked in their direction and smiled when she saw them and waved, "Naruto-kun, Jiraya-sama!" They smiled and waved back, but in less than a second, Naruto could see a blur of pink glomping him, and he fell to the ground. Naruto looked up at the person who had just _JUMPED_ at him and his breath was caught in his throat. The girl who had just jumped at him had pink hair and green eyes, but she wasn't Sakura. She looked so much like her, only younger. _'Whoa...'_ Naruto thought.

"You saved us yesterday!" the girl who was now sitting on top of his stomach said and grinned, "Thank you! I wanna be just like you! You totally kicked their asses!" Naruto couldn't do anything else than staring at the girl.

"Hana!" A woman with red hair yelled at her, she was probably her mother.

"Butt! Butt!" The girl corrected fast. Naruto laughed and lifted the girl away from his stomach as he sat up. "You were so awesome yesterday! How you fooled those people, pretty much how you did everything!" The girl went on talking about his fight with the gang member until she and her mother had to go. Naruto had to laugh at the girl. She reminded him a little about himself, exited and loud..

_Pink hair and green eyes.._

It got him to think about Sakura. In a moment, he thought it was her glomping him. The girl looked SO much like her... He never got to say goodbye to her.. It would have been too painful. But he didn't even leave her a letter, everything went too fast. _'Maybe I should write her a letter..?' _

"What are you thinking about Naruto? You've been staring a hole in this table." Jiraya asked as he saw Naruto staring down at the table in over two minutes ever since they had ordered their food. Naruto blinked and looked up at Jiraya.

"Oh.." He said, not knowing he was staring so hard.

"Thinking about that pink haired girl, are you?" Jiraya asked. He could see it in his eyes. His eyes would always become different when he thought about her. Naruto nodded slowly. "You didn't get to say goodbye?" Jiraya asked and Naruto shook his head no.

Just then Mitsu came with their food, "That's so sad! Was she your teammate?" Jiraya and Naruto looked at her, "Sorry, I overheard you when I started to bring your food here.." Mitsu then gave one of the other waitresses a sign asking if she could sit down a minute. When she got a nod, she took a chair and sat down right beside Naruto. "You know..." She began, but got cut off when Jiraya stood up from his own chair.

"I'll come right back, I think a saw a message bird." He said and walked out of the restaurant.

Mitsu turned back to Naruto, "Love can be the most wonderful thing in the world, but yet, it can be the thing you want to avoid the most..." Naruto looked up at her with a confused look, "I can see it in your eyes, Naruto. I've been there myself and I know what love feels like." She then looked back at the same waitress, "Well, I have to start working again but everything will be alright. Maybe you should write her a letter?"

"I already thought of that, and I will." Naruto said, "Thanks, Mitsu-chan." Mitsu smiled and went back to work.

* * *

Sakura had been in her room since she woke up from when she passed out in Tsunade's office. It had been to much stress for her to manage. First, she figured out that Naruto wasn't in the village anymore, then she figured out why he was hated by so many people.. And to think she actually called him a lot of the worst things he could have been called, even though he wasn't a demon, a killer or anything bad. She must've broken his heart so many times..

She looked at the clock, it was 1 PM. She had been awake since 6 PM last night. She had woken up then. Her thoughts kept her away from falling asleep. For the first time in a really long time, she had the time to think things through. However she didn't really think about anything else than after she had become team 7 along with Kakashi, Sasuke and Naruto. She was still a fangirl then, but she learned to see the 'real' Naruto. He turned out to be a great friend. Making her smile and laugh, cheering her up when she cried, coming up with the stupidest ideas that turned out to be really funny, even though they didn't always work, all the times he saved her.. There was so many things she couldn't even count them on her fingers and toes.

It was especially during the Chuunin exams she started to see Naruto as a teammate, friend and a person she could count on. There had been episodes before that that showed her how determined and protective he was, take their first mission outside Konoha for an instance. When they fought Zabuza and Haku. But it was during the Chuunin exam she could really feel that he cared for her. He encouraged her during her fight with Ino, the result being that she managed to knock Ino out of her mind. He then saved her when Gaara captured her. She thought it was Sasuke, but when she learned that it was in fact Naruto.. She couldn't believe it at first. But she knew he saved her.

And he never went back on his words. He went after Sasuke and nearly died trying. After he couldn't bring him back, he still promised he would bring him back.

There is so many great things about Naruto..

Then someone knocked on her bedroom door. "Sakura? Honey, are you awake?" She heard her mother ask as she opened the door to her room. Her mother saw her daughter laying on her stomach on her bed. She smiled and sat down on the bed next to her and started to drag her hand over her back. "how are you feeling?" Sakura shrugged. Her mother didn't know she knew the truth about Naruto. In fact, all she knew was that Sakura had passed out in Tsunade's office after a long day of work and training. She had gotten the message and gone to her office to pick her up and then went back to her house.

"Better I guess..." Sakura said, her head on top of her pillow and her hands under it.

"Do you want anything to eat? You haven't had anything to eat after you passed out in Lady Hokage's office yesterday." Her mother asked, but Sakura shook her head no. She wasn't hungry at all.

"Well.. If you want anything, you can just tell me, alright?" Sakura nodded and her mother went out of the room.

* * *

Naruto and Jiraya was in the woods just outside the town. They had found the perfect sport to train on. Jiraya had come back to the restaurant rather quickly after he figured out the message wasn't for him. "Now, Naruto. First of all, we sadly just have one year, so I'll have to teach you as much as possible at this time. However, I wont be teaching you any new techniques yet. I want you to perfect the Rasengan before we do that. That means that we'll have to work on your chakra control. Your problems is that you can't push the right amount of chakra into the Rasengan and still have a perfect round form and get the right result of the technique, right?" Naruto nodded, "Then that's what we'll work on. You will now redo the third step of the three steps of learning the Rasengan for three hours, then you will start to try to make the Rasengan with only one hand. Alright?" Jiraya asked.

Naruto nodded, "Alright. But what will you do while I do this? You wont go on peeping at the girls at the hotspring or something?"

"Naruto, I have other matters to think about now than girls and my hobby. I need to teach you as much as I can. I will be looking over my scrolls and figure out which techniques to teach you, which ones to teach you first and what kind of schedule you will have for your training this year." Now, Naruto would never think that Jiraya would get so serious about something that he would give up girls and his hobby. But Naruto was happy that he cared about him so much.

"Alright!" Naruto said and Jiraya tossed him one of the many balls he had with him and Naruto started to practice.

_'Now.. I'll have to figure out which techniques I should teach Naruto.. First I should know his element, but I'll figure that out after he has completed the Rasengan properly and I will focus a lot on that element techniques. So let's see.. He can summon frogs as me.. He should learn fire techniques, those will come in handy along with the frogs' oil. He also has great skill with the Kage Bunshin's.. So if I can come up with any techniques where he can use them, it would get very effective... He also has a lot of chakra and stamina.. But he lacks chakra control.. If he gets the chakra control, he could master really big and great techniques..'_

Jiraya then ended up with picking out a lot of different techniques from many of the different elements that would be his first priority to teach Naruto. He would then focus on techniques from his element, then he would work on the bigger jutsu's.. Of course, Naruto would also have to work on his chakra control every day.

After training the whole day, they went to the restaurant and went back to Mitsu's house. They all then went straight to bed.

* * *

_'I don't know what to write.. This is a lot harder than I thought..'_ Naruto thought. He was sitting in he kitchen with paper and a pen._ 'Dear Sakura-chan..' _He began.

* * *

Sakura woke up by somebody knocking on the door. She had fell asleep in the same position she was when her mother had come into her room yesterday. Sakura hadn't been laying that way all day, she had stretched and gone to the bathroom, she had a bathroom in her own room, and then went back to the same position. Sakura, her head still on the pillow, looked at the door, "Come in.." She said. Then she saw long blond hair and a long green jacket and soon the face of her teacher. Sakura immediately jumped off the bed. "Tsunade-sama!" She said, both with respect and a little surprised that she was in her room.

Tsunade smiled. "No need to stand up Sakura." Tsunade noticed how she looked. She saw clear signs that Sakura had been crying. She was red around her eyes. "I heard from your mother that you haven't eaten anything since you passed out. You should eat, your mother prepared this meal for you." Tsunade said and placed the tray she came in with on Sakura's nightstand next to Sakura's team 7 picture. Tsunade looked at it and realized just how much both Naruto and Sakura had grown since they first graduated from the academy. She smiled and sat down on Sakura's bed next to her. "I know things must be hard for you right now, and your probably very confused. It was a lot of information at once."

Sakura nodded. "I want to make sure that you're not blaming yourself. I can see you already do that, and you shouldn't." Tsunade said. "I myself wish I could have done more, and then he might still be here, but I couldn't."

"I can't believe how bad I treated him when we were younger.." Sakura said and placed her head in her hands. "I had no idea he had such a horrible past, or present for that matter..."

Tsunade looked down at her youngest apprentice for a moment before she placed her right hand on her back. "You know, I was drunk when I first met him again. So I wasn't especially nice to him either.. In fact, he wasn't all that exited about me being the 5th Hokage.. So that's how our relationship started!" Tsunade said with a big grin on her face. Sakura removed her hands from her face and straightened her back and looked at her teacher, "My point is, something that started as bad choice of words and fighting ended with love. So now I look at him as the annoying grandchild!"

Sakura smiled, then her eyebrows narrowed in confusion. "Why didn't he want you to become the 5th Hokage? Wasn't he the reason you became the Hokage in the first place?"

Tsunade frowned as she thought back at their first encounter. "Well, he thought it wasn't right for me to 'fool' Konoha with my jutsu making me looking 20 when I in reality I am 50 years old! Then he called me an old hag and it just carried on after that.." Tsunade smiled, "He saved my life, and then he managed to change my mind. He does that a lot." She looked at Sakura when she noticed her smile and let a small giggle out. Tsunade then looked at the clock and sighed, "I have to go. I have a meeting with the damn council. Well, I'm already late, but I can't help but let Kakashi get to me with his late-ness.." She stood up from the bed and started to walk towards the door when she remembered something and turned around. "Oh, that's right! I have a letter for you..." She said and put her hand in her pocket as Sakura stood up from her bed and walked up to her. Tsunade handed her an envelope with _'Sakura-chan' _written over it. "It was sent with one of Naruto's and Jiraya's frogs. And no, I have not read it. Well, let me know when you'll come back at work and when you are ready to train again." Tsunade said

Sakura smiled and nodded, "I'll be back tomorrow. Thank you for coming Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade smiled and nodded before she walked out of the room. Sakura sat back down on her bed and looked at the envelope. She then opened it.

_'Dear Sakura-chan...' _

* * *

Ah! It was not supposed to end here! But it's like 10 PM and I'm really tired and I have school tomorrow. Now I only have 3 days of school left before vacation! Then there's no school until 20th August!

The chapter wasn't really supposed to turn out like it did. It was supposed to have Naruto's training in detail, but I'll do that in the next chapter instead! The same goes for Sakura's training! You got to see a side of Tsunade that you don't see often, the mother/grandmother figure (NARUTO HAS ALL THE RIGHT TO CALL HER BAA-CHAN IF YOU ASK ME! XD )

Anyway! Vote for your favorite pairings, if your pairings is not in the list, please feel free to write your favorite pairings a long with your review! Leave me some luuuuv people!


	4. Chapter 4

**The still living dream**

**A/N; OMG!** Haha, I just have to laugh! XD We have gotten the Naruto manga to Norway,(6th volume) and they spell so many things wrong and makes the worst thinkable translation / It takes away the fun of reading it/ Example; Chouji – Koji... -.-'

**I hurt my hand while playing Volleyball at school! I have written with ONE hand! I have gotten a pretty bad sprain in my right hand, and it hurts like hell xD**

Thank you again to the people who have taken their time to review the last chapter;**xXbeautifullyshatteredXx, FamousFox89, Cloud Ex-SOLDIER, Krymsom, Starfire99, Darth Luffy, mangafilipina, Flashing Silver, Akiro Knight, kunaithower3000, Nebula1701, QWAKE, tom308, ninjadude135, twin083,**

**A special thanks to the ones who takes their time to write a review that is not only 'update soon' and stuff like that. Some of you are really great and write a long and good review. I really appreciate that!:)**

_**Here's a little poll for you;**_

**Sasuke;**

Dies- 3

Back to Konoha and has gotten nicer over the years- 3

Back to Konoha and stayed the same- 2

Still a threat to Konoha- 1

**Pairings;**

Kibahina-4

Shikatema- 4

KakashiAnko- 2

KibaIno- 1

ChouIno- 2

GaaMat-1

NejiTen- 3

ShikaIno- 1

ItachiKurenai- 1 (I wont put this up in the story as a pairing, sorry. But a thought came to me... Just wait and watch)

If you have some other pairings you would like to see, tell me along with a review and I'll add it to this poll! Remember, to get your favorite pairings in the story, you'll have to vote! And BTW, you might want a pairing that might not appear in the story, but I'll try my best to make everyone happy, so I might throw in a hint here and there (Maybe a hidden crush or something xD Already have something planned out for the ItachiKurenai pairing)

* * *

Sakura walked down the stairs and went into the kitchen the next morning. Her mother was really happy to see her daughter back out from her room. She smiled, "Good morning honey, how are you feeling?" Sakura sat down at the table and smiled at her mother.

"A lot better!" Sakura said and took a bread and butter before finding what she wanted on the bread. "I'm going to be training and working on the hospital all day today, so I won't be home until around 9 PM tonight. Just so you know where I will be or who I will be with." Sakura said and took a bite of her breakfast.

Her mother smiled at her, "Sakura, you have no idea how proud I am of you. You will come far." Sakura's mother said and gave her a hug. "Just remember to eat while you have that tight schedule! Eat all your meals!" Sakura smiled and nodded. She finished her breakfast and then went to the hospital.

When she arrived the hospital the first person she saw was Shizune carrying too many papers for her to handle. Sakura walked up to her and took half of the bunch. "Thanks, Sakura-san."

"No problem, Shizune-san, and you can just call me Sakura, I feel weird being called '-san'." Shizune nodded her head in understanding. They walked until they reached the room where everyone's desk's were. They then had to place the papers on the right desk's. They ended up getting some papers on their own desk's, so they ended up doing those after they finished giving out the papers. Sakura got a few papers on some of the patients she would be taking care of, mostly children in the age 6-9, as well as some old people that nearly couldn't do anything on their own. They had to have help eating, drinking, standing up, sitting up in bed and that kind of stuff. Tsunade said this was the best way to get into the hospital routine. Sick children in that age, as well as old people weren't so hard to handle. The old people was usually very nice, always telling her how much they appreciated her help and they kept on telling her stories about when they were young. She also happened to learn a lot about Konoha and the other villages' history that was. The kids usually asked how it was to be a ninja, how it was to be a medical ninja and work in the hospital, wondering about the missions she had and that kind of stuff. They weren't really annoying at all. Sakura actually found it quite nice to be able to work with kids and old people.

She opened a letter she had gotten along with her paperwork and read it. It turned out to be her payment check. Sakura almost fell out of her chair, "WHAT? 250 dollars? I have barely been to work! How is that possible, Shizune-san?" Sakura asked and Shizune came over to her.

"Well, apparently you've done a great job on the few days you've been working here. It's a kind of reward from the hospital." Shizune said and smiled.

"Really? Do you think I deserve it..? I mean, I haven't done half as much as you and-" Normally her payment wouldn't be this high.. At least after barely a week of working!

"You've done great here, Sakura. You're one of the youngest people to work in this hospital." Shizune said.

"What..? Really? Who was the others?" Sakura asked wondering.

"Oh, there has only been one more, her name was Rin. She was only 11 years old when she started working at this hospital. She was a great friend of mine, sadly, she suddenly disappeared at the age of 16.. We're assuming she's dead." Shizune said with a sad smile. Rin had been one of her first friends.

"Rin.. Rin.. Where have I heard that name before.. Oh! Wasn't that the name of Kakashi's female teammate?" Sakura asked and Shizune nodded. "Wait, Weren't you working here as well? You have been Tsunade's apprentice for quite a long time."

"Oh, right, I guess I kinda forgot about me.." Shizune said and scratched her chin with her finger. "I also started when I was 11.. So I guess that makes us the three youngest, huh?" Shizune finished with a smile.

Tsunade walked into the room and saw the paperwork on her desk. She sighed, "How come there a new stack of paperwork on my desk?" Tsunade asked and turned around. She smiled when she saw Sakura working on her paperwork. "Sakura, I'm hoping that when you get more experience in both being a medical ninja and working at the hospital, you will begin to help me and Shizune with these kinds of paperworks. You'll have to look over the reports for the person to see if he or she is well enough to be let out of the hospital, and sometimes they'll have to come back on a check up once a week or a little less, depending on their situation."

Sakura smiled, "I will!" Tsunade and Shizune also smiled.

_'I know you'll go far, Sakura.'_ Tsunade thought.

3 hours went by, until Sakura was asked to take care of an arm injury of a Genin. Sakura took a paper and a pen with her to fill it out. She walked down the hallway and made her way towards room 308. When she found it, she knocked on the door and then opened the door. Inside, Shino was leaning against the wall beside the bed, Hinata was standing next to Kurenai who had been talking to Kiba telling him to be more careful next time. Everyone turned to look at Sakura who had just opened the door into the room. Sakura lifted one eyebrow in confusion before she again looked at the number on the door. It was room 308.

"Hello Sakura! I heard you became Tsunade-sama's apprentice, congratulations!" Kurenai said and smiled.

Kurenai's students looked at Sakura with a mix of shocked, proud and happy look. "Really? That so cool, Sakura!" Kiba said and used his right hand to punch into the air, completely forgetting it was that hand that was injured. "QW!"

"Congratulations, Sakura-chan!" Hinata said with a smile.

"Congratulations Sakura, you must be really happy." Shino said.

Sakura smiled, "Thank you, yes, I am." Sakura then walked over to Kiba and looked at his arm. It was teared to shreds. "What happened to your arm Kiba?" Sakura asked as she wrote Kiba's full name on the paper. She then noted how his arm looked like.

"Well, Akamaru and I tried out a new jutsu my sister taught me, but something went wrong when we did it." Kiba said. "Hana is taking care of Akamaru at the moment, he just got a scratch so he's fine." Sakura nodded as she wrote down what he said about the technique.

"Well that's good. So he got off better than you with other words." Sakura said and placed the clipboard where the paper was on and pen down on the nightstand next to the bed. Sakura then sat down on the bed with him and took his arm in her hands. "You gotta tell me when it hurts, alright?"

"_When_ it hurts? Are you trying to hurt me?" Kiba asked

"_If_ it hurts, better?" Sakura asked and sighed. Kiba nodded.

First Sakura rolled up his sleeve on his right hand so she could see how much of his arm that was damaged. It stopped right below his elbow. Sakura held her left hand above his elbow, while her right hand was just below his elbow. She then used her right hand and bended his arm upwards. When Kiba didn't say anything, she went to his hand. Her left hand above his writs and her right hand held his hand. She then bended his hand backwards just as she did with his elbow. He winced and Sakura noticed that. "Does it hurt?" She asked and Kiba nodded. Sakura then held his wrist steady and used her right hand to straighten out his fingers one by one. He winced again as she did this, she could barely straighten them out. She then looked at the wounds on his arm. They were pretty deep, but they didn't have any signs of infection. It seemed like they had gotten some sort of treatment.

"Have you taken anything to take the pain away after you hurt your arm?" Sakura asked and Kiba shock his head.

"No, I just took it like man!" Kiba said proudly, "But Hinata gave me some salve to put on the wounds and that took some of the pain away."

Sakura picked up her pen and started writing down her examination so far. She turned towards Hinata, "Was it the same salve you gave both him and Naruto during the Chuunin exams?"

Hinata nodded, "Y-yes." She said.

Sakura smiled, "That's a good thing that you did that. Otherwise there could have been an infection. Besides, that salve is supposed to be really effective." Hinata smiled and blushed slightly. "However... These wounds are pretty deep, so I think I will be cleaning them just to be sure." Sakura said and walked to the other side of the room where it was some cabinets. She opened one of them and saw that she couldn't reach what she needed, so she used a chair to stand on. She then jumped back down with a bottle of alcohol in her hand and some paper. "By how you nearly can't move your hand, I'd say that you have a pretty powerful sprain, but the hand is not broken. As for the wounds, they wont leave any scars." Sakura said.

"So it will be alright then?" Kiba asked.

Without thinking Sakura said, "Oh yeah! By tomorrow your whole hand will be black and then it'll fall off!" She said and poured some alcohol in one of the wounds. Kiba's eyes widened by her words, and he winced when the alcohol came in contact with his wounds. Kurenai had to keep herself from laughing. Sakura had really gotten Kiba to be quiet. When Sakura had finished cleaning his wounds she took on some salve to both keep the pain a away for some time and to make sure the bandage did not get stuck with his wounds. Before she put on his bandage she healed his wounds as much as she was able to. When she had bandaged his arm up to his elbow she placed a backing bandage with steel in it on his hand. "There, you're all done. You'll have to skip training for at least 5 days. When 5 days has gone, I want you to come back to the hospital so I can make sure everything is growing well. I'll write down some of the medicine you can get for free downstairs, the painkillers will take away most of the pain, and you'll have to try to move your fingers as much as possible." Sakura said and wrote down the names of two different pain killers and the same salve she just used. She also wrote down how often he could take the painkillers and how often he should put on the salve. She then signed it. Every medical ninja who gave out a reception on medicine had to sign it.

"Alright, thanks." Kiba said and stood up from the bed. Sakura gave the note with the painkillers and salve to Kurenai. They said their goodbyes and just before they walked out Kiba turned around, "You didn't really mean that about my arm turning black and falling off, did you?" Sakura laughed.

Then Tsunade walked into the room. "Sakura, there has been some switching with the papers..." Tsunade said but then she noticed Kiba's arm 'fixed' "Oh, you fixed his arm? Well, that's great then." Tsunade said and smiled. Kurenai immediately bowed when she saw Tsunade look at her. Hinata, Shino and even Kiba did the same. He had heard from Naruto that their new Hokage could have one hell of a temper. Sure, he had met her before, but it was always in her office getting a mission or giving a report. Now, he would like to keep the rest of his body whole. Tsunade nodded at them after they bowed. "Be sure to take it easy with that hand of yours, I'm sure Sakura already informed you about that." Tsunade said and Kiba nodded.

After they left the room Sakura picked up the clipboard and wrote down the last details on the paper before she signed that as well. She then picked up the bottle of alcohol and went over to the cabinet, stood on the chair and placed it back where it was before, "These things are way too high.." Sakura mumbled to herself. However Tsunade heard her.

"I know, but it will get a little easier once you grow. Even I have problems reaching something now and then. It should really be fixed.. But then again, we can't have kids drugging themselves on these things..." Tsunade said but shook her head, "Are you ready for training?" Tsunade asked and Sakura nodded. "Meet me at the usual training ground in 15 minutes. Be sure to get some water to bring a long."

* * *

"Alright, what we're gonna work on right now is your strength. I see that you have shown that you can use super strength, it's just that you can't control it. That is what we're gonna work on now these next couple of days, along with your medical training. Understood?"

"Hai!" Sakura said.

"Alright, I already know you have incredible chakra control, so I don't think it will take a long time for you to be able to use it." Tsunade said. "The first thing you do, is to mold chakra in your hand." Tsunade lifted her hand and Sakura did the same thing. "The bigger amount of chakra you mold in your hand, the harder the hit will become. You can also of course do the same thing with you feet, but that's a little more tricky." Sakura nodded her head in understanding. "It's important that you have control over your chakra ll the time, if you don't there can go something wrong with the chakra you're molding at it will feel as if it is exploding in your hand." Tsunade looked at how concentrated Sakura was. She really wanted this. _'A fine student.'_ She thought to herself. "Alright, I want you to punch that tree over there. Feel free to put in as much chakra as you think you can handle."

Sakura nodded and stood in front of the tree. She concentrated and began to mold her chakra into her hand. When she felt it was enough she punched the tree and it went into two pieces. Tsunade raised her eyebrows as she saw this. "That is really good. You seem to have it down when you have the time to concentrate right... But what about in a fight?" Tsunade asked. Suddenly She charged at Sakura with a punch. It was not with all her strength but it wasn't far away from it.

Sakura jumped away and began to mold chakra in both of her arms. Tsunade brought her right leg up into the air and brought it down to kick Sakura right in the head but she blocked it with her arm. Tsunade could feel the chakra in her arm, she was using her chakra to block most of the kick. Impressive. Not many would catch on this fast. Tsunade punched and kicked Sakura, sometimes she was able to dodge or block it, other times she got hit, but she got up again.

_'I wonder how long she will be able to go at it..?' _

* * *

Sakura's mom entered Sakura's room. She was vacuuming and decided to take Sakura's room as well. Originally, this was her own job to keep her room clean, but she would probably be so tired and very busy the next couple of days/weeks/months/years that she wouldn't have the time.. As dumb as that sounds. She began to vacuum under her bed and looked at a picture that was on her nightstand. It was a picture of her team. Kakashi Hatake, Uchiha Sasuke and Naruto Uzumaki.. She shook her head and went back to vacuuming but somehow her gaze landed on the picture. She then noticed an envelope next to the picture. She picked it up. 'Sakura-chan' it stood on the front. She got curious and opened the envelope and pulled out a letter. She knew it was wrong, but at the same time she let the curiousness take over. She began to read for herself..

_'Dear Sakura-chan...'_

* * *

You wanna know what it stands in the letter right? Well, you did not get to know in the next chapter(I think) but SOON!

I've written all this with one hand more or less, I'm kinda proud of myself! XD Please leave me a review and also vote! ; )


	5. Chapter 5

**The still living dream**

**A/N; OMG!** My hand hurt xD As nice as I am... I started to write this chapter the day after I posted the last one. Let's just say one of the readers threaten me.. +CaughtFamousFox89Caught+ Something about unnerving me...

Also, I think someone is meaning the same thing as FanRiFic that it got a little irritated that I left off with the same cliffhanger in both of the last chapters. I was originally not going to stop there in the last chapter. But as I said, I hurt my hand playing volleyball at school, and I got a hard sprain. I can't do anything with it-.-' Anyway, as I promised FanRiFic, if you're still reading this story, which I of course hope you're doing, I will reveal what the letter says in this chapter! (In last chapter I was going to have both Sakura's and Naruto's training.. But you know my hand.. I didn't want you to wait too long for the next chapter.)

**Thank you again to the people who have taken their time to review the last chapter;** twin083, Dreamergirl92813, FamousFox89, Ella Clevek, RealyManlyPimps, Nebula1701, Genaric Name, tennisdesi91, vash3055, Workin'Ma'WayUp, FanRiFic, Nightshade-Shinigami

_**Here's a little poll for you;**_

**Sasuke;**

Dies- 4

Back to Konoha and has gotten nicer over the years- 5

Back to Konoha and stayed the same- 3

Still a threat to Konoha- 1

**Pairings;**

Kibahina-5

Shikatema- 5

KakashiAnko- 2

KibaIno- 1

ChouIno- 2

GaaMat-2

NejiTen- 4

ShikaIno- 1

ItachiKurenai- 1 (I wont put this up in the story as a pairing, sorry. But a thought came to me... Just wait and watch)

If you have some other pairings you would like to see, tell me along with a review and I'll add it to this poll! Remember, to get your favorite pairings in the story, you'll have to vote! And BTW, you might want a pairing that might not appear in the story, but I'll try my best to make everyone happy, so I might throw in a hint here and there (Maybe a hidden crush or something xD Already have something planned out for the ItachiKurenai pairing)

* * *

After a few days with intense training, Naruto was able to do the Rasengan with on hand. Naruto had been shocked when he saw the same damage he made with one hand as he originally did with a clone, after that.. He started jumping around with joy. Jiraya had smiled proudly. Even with the bad chakra control Naruto had, he still managed to do it. He really could nearly do anything he wanted. They had also found out that Naruto had the Wind element, which was very rare in Fire Country.

"Alright Naruto! I have found a few Fuuton jutsu's that you might be able to learn. I do not have the wind element myself, but I know them. Because you actually have the wind element, these techniques will be very powerful!" Jiraya said as he looked at Naruto. "The first one I will learn you is called 'Fuuton: Renkudan.' It is a very powerful technique, just watch." Naruto nodded and looked at Jiraya. He turned and looked at this huge and big stone. Jiraya took a deep breath, then punched himself in the stomach. Out of his mouth came something that looked like small wind bullets, you could barely see it and that made it a perfect surprise attack. They hit the rock and went probably ¼ through the whole stone. Naruto watched with his eyes wide. "Of course, with someone who actually have the wind element... The bullets will probably go right through the stone if you want that to happen." Jiraya said.

"Wow..." Was all Naruto managed to say. Could he really make such a great damage?

"Now, the next one, I need you to stand beside me and throw the biggest rock you can manage right in front of me. This is just to show you what the jutsu can do, it will not show the technique at it's greatest, but it will give you an idea of what it can do." Naruto nodded and threw the heaviest and biggest stone he could throw in front of Jiraya, "Fuuton: Daitoppa!" Jiraya yelled and an explosion of wind went of and set the rock right through a tree. "A very useful technique to know if you get many weapons thrown at you or something even more dangerous than that."

Jiraya watched as Naruto looked at the big whole in the tree. The tree was very thick, and was probably the reason it was still standing. "Now.. The last one." Jiraya turned around and behind him was a lot of rocks and sticks from the trees. He took a deep breath and blew a massive gust of wind out of his mouth, clearing the ground from any rocks and sticks. "This technique is almost like the last one, but you use your mouth instead of creating an explosion. This one is called 'Fuuton: Atsugai'"

"Awesome! So these are the techniques I will concentrate the most on for the time being?" Naruto asked and Jiraya nodded.

"The other element that is closest with wind is water, meaning that Suiton techniques will probably become your second powerful elemental techniques. But yes, for the time being, you should focus on those three jutsu's." Naruto nodded his head in understanding. "But first, we should get something to eat! I'm starving!" Jiraya said with a big goofy grin on his face.

"Whaaaat?!" Naruto asked, he was SO pumped for training right now. "But I'm not hungry!" However, his stomach had other thoughts as it made a loud noise. "...Alright.."

When they arrived the restaurant they decided to sit by the counter. Mitsu saw them sitting down and she walked up to them, standing on the other side of the counter. "You've been training! How has it gone?" She asked with her usual warm smile.

Naruto and Jiraya smiled back at her, "It's gone great! Ero-sennin just showed me three kick ass wind techniques that he's gonna teach me!"

"Really? That's sounds interesting! Then I guess you have learned the Rasengan with one hand now?" Mitsu asked and Naruto nodded.

"We're here to get something to eat, then we'll go back to training." Jiraya said.

"Right, so what do you two want?" Mitsu asked as she pulled out her notebook out.

"I'll just take today's special and some sakè, please." Jiraya said. Mitsu wrote it down and then turned to Naruto.

"...Do you have any ramen..?" Naruto asked.

Mitsu looked at him, "Ramen..?"

"Naruto, are you really gonna eat that at a day when you're training?" Jiraya asked, a little annoyed.

"EH! I haven't ate Ramen in over a week!" Naruto said in defense.

Mitsu smiled, "What flavor would you want?"

"Any flavor is good!" Naruto said with a big smile. Mitsu nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. In a few minutes she reappeared with their food. Naruto got a big grin on his face.

"It's a special. Hope you like it. What would you like to drink?"

Naruto was nearly drooling, "Water, please." Mitsu nodded and turned around to the water machine, grabbed a glass and started to pour cold water down into the glass.

"What day does those guys think it is today? I mean, wearing black cloaks with red clouds..? And why is that man wearing a fish costume under it?" Naruto tensed as he heard this and both he and Jiraya looked towards the door where the two guys were talking. "Shh, their coming this way!"

Jiraya motioned for Naruto to jump behind the desk they were sitting at. Naruto looked at him like he was crazy, but did so because Jiraya pretty much threw him over. Naruto sat down and leaned back against the desk. 'What the hell is he thinking?! I should be fighting them!' Naruto thought to himself.

Just before Itachi and Kisame came into the restaurant, Jiraya threw a Genjutsu over the restaurant. Sure, Itachi was a master with Genjutsu, but Jiraya was one of the three Saninn. Itachi and Kisame walked into the restaurant and saw Jiraya sitting at the desk with three sakè bottles and a lot of women around him. As they looked more around they noticed that there was much more girls then men in this restaurant. "You think this is the right place Kisame?" Itachi asked as he looked into the room. There was a group of girl winking and waving at him as if to get him to come over.

"No I don't, but right now I don't care!" Kisame said with a perverted grin on his fish face. "Kisame was about to walk into the restaurant, which now looked a lot more like a... bar with female workers. Itachi lifted his finger and put it right in front of Kisame's face, and Kisame's eyes widened at once, "Alright! Perhaps it was not this restaurant either... Even though I was so sure it was.. Maybe he has left this town?" Itachi looked at him, his finger still right in front of his face. Kisame really didn't want to face Itachi's wrath. "In the report, it said that he was going to be here from the 10th to the 27th.." Kisame looked at the report again, and started to laugh uncomfortably, "Actually... make that the 23rd. Which means he has left for three days ago.. SORRY!" Kisame immediately screamed, scared for every fish part of his body. Itachi lowered his finger, turned around and started to walk away. When Kisame asked him where he was going, Itachi disappeared in a cloud of smoke, "Oh.." Kisame said and disappeared as well.

Jiraya sighed in relief. He waited for 5 minutes before he decided to stop the Genjutsu. However, before he could, there was a couple in their late 30s/ early 40s coming inside. "I swear honey, this is the best place ever to eat!" He then turned from his wife and his face immediately turned red and nosebleed started to come out of his nose.

"WHAT THE HELL, IS THIS WHERE YOU GO EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT?!" The woman yelled just before her husband fainted.

Jiraya sweat drooped and sighed, before he dispelled the Genjutsu. "Naruto, you can come out now." Naruto stood up and was about to walk around the desk, but one of Mitsu's co-workers stopped him. She leaned down and placed her mouth against his ear and whispered so only he could hear.

"You didn't look under my skirt while you sat at the floor, did you?" She asked in a low voice. Naruto turned around fast, and stared at her with a blush on his face.

"What? NO!" Naruto yelled, making everyone in the restaurant look at him. Mitsu however, was the only one smiling.. Along with her co-worker's grin.

"Really? Are you sure..? I wouldn't blame you if you did..." She said again, her voice in a 'normal' talking voice.

Naruto was speechless and couldn't say anything, instead he just turned around and walked out from behind the desk and sat down beside Jiraya and started to eat on his ramen, which somehow had stayed warm during the whole thing. The woman chuckled and went to work in the kitchen. She was so scary.. She kinda reminded Naruto about that Anko woman.. Mitsu stood across Naruto and Jiraya and laughed lightly, "Don't worry, she is just messing with you. She's like that with everyone, especially the one's who doesn't do something like that. She just likes to mess with you and see your reaction."

* * *

"I'm home!" Sakura yelled as she stepped into her house. She took off her shoes and walked into the kitchen.

"Oh! Dinner is just ready, go wash your hands and I'll put the dinner on the table." Sakura's mom said. When Sakura came back with her hands all clean she saw the dinner set out on the table. She sat down. "So how was your training today? You seem very tired."Her mother asked.

"Oh! It was great! First I worked at the hospital, taking care of some kids and some old people.. Then I got the wrong papers of a patient, but I didn't know that.. Then Tsunade-sama and I had some training on strength."

"Really? It sounds like you really like this job. And train under Tsunade-sama nonetheless." Sakura nodded with a smile, "But what about that patient that you got the wrong papers about?"

"Oh, It was Kiba. He had hurt his hand while he and Akamaru tried out a new jutsu.. His arm was teared up, it was really bad. I bet it hurt a lot. He has to come back for checkups." Sakura said and looked at her mother who was looking at her while she ate her food. Sakura then frowned, "Perhaps not the best subject to talk about during dinner.." Sakura said and her mother laughed.

The rest of the dinner they were silent. No word spoken other than 'great food mom' and ' I'm glad you like it'. "Thanks for dinner." Sakura said as she finished her food and stood up to take her plate and do the dishes.

"Wait, Sakura.. There is.. something I want to talk to you about..." Sakura looked at her and and sat back down in her chair.

"What is it mom?" Sakura asked curious.

Sakura's mother took a deep breath, "Well.. As I know.. Your teammate was banished from the village just a few days ago.. I know that must have been hard, but.. What do you look at him as?"

Sakura felt sadness come back at the mention of Naruto being banished, but still, she couldn't figure out the reason her mother was asking her this. "Well, I.." Sakura stared at the table. She didn't know what to say. What was written in the letter had made her think, A LOT. And she got really confused. "I don't know.. I guess.. He's a friend.. Close friend.. One of my closest friends actually.. I.. Why are you asking these questions?"

Her mother didn't reply. "Mom.. Do you hate him?" Sakura asked, hoping that was not the reason she asked these questions. Her mother didn't reply again, "Do you see him as the real person he is.. Or.. the thing he has inside of him?" Sakura asked carefully.

Her mother looked up at her shocked. She wasn't supposed to know about the Kyuubi still being alive and inside that boy. Her mother sighed again, "Well I.. I can't say I hate him.. I'm just... scared.."

"Scared? How can you be scared of him? He is the most loving person you'll ever come across!" Sakura almost yelled at her mother. Her mother then yelled back.

"Don't you understand Sakura? The Kyuubi killed my husband and your father! You are the only one I have left! I don't want to lose you as well!" Sakura was shocked by her outburst. She then hang her head down and tried to remember her father. She had been only a few months when the Kyuubi attack happened. "And when I felt that chakra the other day... The same evil chakra.. I was afraid I might lose you as well.. I couldn't be able to live on without you!" Sakura was now crying. Because of Naruto, her father, her mothers words..

"Did you try to kill him?" Sakura asked with a low and insecure voice. She had to know this.

"What..?" Sakura looked up at her, to notice her mother was crying as well. "No, I didn't." She searched her face, "Why are you asking me that kind of question?"

"Do you know how hard his life has been? Ever since he could walk, the villagers has chased him and tried to kill him. Before that, when he was just a little baby who could either walk or talk, there was 'accidents' that involved knives being 'dropped' on him and 'miss' him onto the floor. He was kicked out of the orphanage when he was only 4 years old. He barely got any food there, he was lucky if he got dinner once a week. He didn't have a bed or toys, he had torn up clothes that was supposed to be thrown away. When he was thrown out of the orphanage he had to live on the street for two weeks before the Sandaime was able to get him an apartment where he had to live on his own. People would throw him out of their shops and ignore him, refuse to give him food, even though he would pay for it. They would even higher up the price on this he wanted to buy so he wasn't able to get it. He didn't have anyone to look properly after him, and nobody was friends with him because of their parents and what they said. People didn't even care if he heard that they called him 'demon' or anything like that." Her mom looked shocked. "And you know what the worst part is? I was one of those kids who scolded him, called him names and ignored him, just because you said he was dangerous and he was not worth the same as us!" Sakura stood up and started to walk upstairs to her room.

"Wait, Sakura! Just let me-"

"I wanna be alone now.. Thanks for dinner.."

Sakura sat down on her bed and looked at her photo of team 7 for the.. well, she lost count. Her eyes landed on the envelope with the letter Naruto had sent her.. And saw that the letter was out of the envelope. 'Has she read my letter...?' She picked up the letter and unfolded it.

_'Dear Sakura-chan,_

_I'm really sorry for not being able to say goodbye.. I don't know if you know where I have gone, or what has happened, but if you don't you can go to Baa-chan and ask why. I trust you with all my heart, and I believe and hope you still look at me as the same person. Without giving away details, seeing that somebody else might get their hands on the letter, I guess I should only tell you some stuff... I have gotten banished from Konoha.. I have not done anything wrong to get banished, but.. there's an whole story to that that started the day I was born.. _

_The reason I wrote this letter is because I wasn't able to say goodbye to one of the persons I love the most. I know I have been annoying while we have known each other.. I guess.. The reason I acted like that was to get somebody to pay attention to me. In a friendly way.. But now I'm thinking that I might have pushed you farther away.. I really hope I haven't. But what I've said is true. From the moment I saw you, I was drawn towards you, (I know that sounded a little... weird..) and once I got to know you, the one you really was, I fell more and more in love with you._

_I want you to remember that I always keep my promises, and even though I'm not in the village anymore, doesn't mean I'm not going to bring Sasuke back! I will bring him back no matter what! _

_Naruto'_

Sakura still had tears rolling down her face. She folded the letter and placed it back into the envelope before she opened her drawer and pulled out her diary which had a lock on it. She unlocked it and placed the envelope in the diary and locked it. She placed her diary back into the drawer and closed that as well. She looked at herself in the mirror, she looked like crap. She dried her eyes with her hands and walked out of her room and down the stairs. Her mother heard her come down and lifted her head from her hands to look at her. "Sakura, I- Where are you going?"

Sakura didn't look at her as she took on her shoes, "The hospital." She said before she walked out of the house. She had to get away from her house and mother for a while.. She figured out the best place to be was the hospital. There she could help anyone if they needed, and she could study when nobody needed her. When she entered the hospital she couldn't see anyone. She decided to walk into the room where the workers' desk's were and start to read about the human body. She wanted to learn as much as possible in the least amount of time so she could be to help for everybody. As time went by, she slowly fell asleep.

* * *

Alright guys! I noticed something in the end of the last chapter, where I said 'you will not get to know in the next chapter' what I was intending to write there was 'you didn't get to know in this chapter' Sorry for that as well:P xD

Alright, anyways, I feel like I have to put this up now. I was a little insecure about how to make Sakura's mom reaction to it, because I always see fics where she hates Naruto. I didn't want to that full out, so instead she's just a little scared that the Kyuubi will take over his body and kill her daughter... That's understanding, right?

Anyways, I am not sure when I will be able to update again. In the next few days/weeks, I will be going the the hospital to scan my head, I will also go to a person who is going to ask me questions to figure out if I'm depressed, (Which I think is kinda dumb, cause I already know I am.) Still, my hand is hurting and hopefully there will be some nice weather soon! There hasn't been nice weather since my summer vacation started, so hopefully the sun will shine soon!:) Hope you all understand this!

OH! AND BY THE WAY! The Sasuke poll will soon have to be closed, cause I'm soon coming to the point in the story where I will have to have the decicion.


	6. Chapter 6

**The still living dream**

**A/N; **Yes! My hand is healed! It happens that it hurt a little once in a while, but that's okay! I'm sorry this came out later than the other chapters! I had o go to the hospital to scan my head, but then it didn't work, so I had to go back home.. -.-' And now I go to something called BUP, which is children and teen psychiatry.. And I will be going there quite a lot in the future I think.. Summer is here!

I actually wrote a lot of this while listening to meditation music.. It's very relaxing!

**Fabulous people:** Starfire99, QUAKE, sco23, twin083, infernodog, chickenman00712, Genaric Name, kunaithower3000,

_**Here's a little poll for you;**_

**Sasuke;**

Dies- 6

Back to Konoha and has gotten nicer over the years- 5

Back to Konoha and stayed the same- 3

Still a threat to Konoha- 1

**Pairings;**

Shikatema- 5

KakashiAnko- 2

ChouIno- 2

GaaMat-2

NejiTen- 4

ShikaIno- 1

ItachiKurenai- 1 (I wont put this up in the story as a pairing, sorry. But a thought came to me... Just wait and watch)

**Already decided**; NaruSaku, AsuKure, KibaHina, JirTsu(?)

* * *

_'I'm exhausted!'_ Naruto thought as he fell down on his bed. _'I've learning some really cool techniques now.. It's just awesome!'_ Naruto went into the bath room and took off his clothes and stepped into the shower. When he had washed his hair and his body he stepped back out of the shower and dried his hair with a towel, then put one around his waist. He brushed his teeth and then walked into his room and put on some boxers. He then went to bed, but he couldn't sleep. There was different thoughts on his mind, some more important the others.

Today, Jiraya most likely saved his life. If he hadn't been there, the Akatsuki would have seen him and feel his presence. He was not powerful enough to fight off both Itachi and Kisame, he would barely be able to keep himself alive fighting one of them! So what if Jiraya hadn't been there with him today? What would have happened? Nothing Naruto would like, that's for sure.

_'What will happen when this one year is up, and Jiraya will have to leave me?'_ Naruto thought, slightly scared of it. _'He wont be there as he was today.. I'll have to take care of myself.'_

* * *

"Sakura? What are you doing here?" Sakura woke up by someone saying her name, the figure was slightly blurry, but when she managed to open her eyes completely, she saw Tsunade looking down at her. Sakura jumped slightly when she saw Tsunade. "Why are you here at this hour? I thought I asked you to go home?"

"Oh.. I.." Sakura said, not really sure of what to say, while Tsunade waited for her answer. "I just had to get away from my mom and my house for a while.." She answered truthfully.

Tsunade looked at her, _'Sounds like she had a fight with her mother..'_ Tsunade then looked down on the desk where she had fallen asleep, there was a few books. "Well, does your mother know you're here?"

Sakura nodded, "Yes I told her I would go here." Sakura looked at the clock, it read 03.00 AM. "Is it this late already?" Sakura asked more to herself than Tsunade, but Tsunade nodded.

"Yes it is. You should go home, Sakura."

"No!" Tsunade looked at her curiously. "I mean.. Isn't there anything I can do?" Sakura asked, begging to god there was something she could do.

"Well.. There isn't much you can do here. I guess the only thing is to check up on the patents and see if they're okay. Many of them are using oxygen masks to help them breathe, and we have to make sure the mask gives them the right amount of oxygen. Everything you need to know is on the papers in their room." Tsunade said and Sakura smiled.

"Thank you!" She said and bowed before she walked off.

Tsunade sighed and smiled. "At least she seems better." She looked down on the books she had been reading and sat down at Sakura's desk and picked up one of the books._ 'Human body'_ was the title of one of the books, while the other was a book on chakra. In the chakra book it was written everything they knew about chakra. How it worked, where the different chakra coils was and so on. Tsunade saw that Sakura had written down different things on a piece of paper, probably what she felt like she had to study. She smiled, Sakura reminded her a little about herself. Shizune was also like this, but she probably got it from her since she was her apprentice.

* * *

The next morning Tsunade had insisted that Sakura got home and got a few hours of sleep before coming back to the hospital and her training. It was very early, probably 5 AM. Tsunade and Sakura made an agreement that her training started at 11 AM. Tsunade wanted Sakura to get more sleep, but if she slept longer into the day she would go into a bad habit of being up in the night and sleep in the day.

Sakura was on her way back to the hospital. It was 10.30 AM and she just had to get a sandwich at one of the restaurants or food stands. When she had done that, she saw Ino outside of the flower shop her family owns and runs. Ino turned around and saw Sakura walking towards her and smiled when she saw her. "Sakura!" She yelled and waved at her. Sakura smiled and waved back. "Sakura! How are doing?" She asked with concern.

Sakura looked at her confused, ".. I'm fine.."

"I had no idea Naruto got banished, how the hell could they do that?" Ino asked with her voice low and Sakura understood why she asked how she was with such concern in her voice.

"Oh.." Sakura said when the same memories came back. She knew she would feel this way for some time, maybe even forever... But that was no reason to forget about Naruto and pretend like it never happened. "How did you know?"

"Well.. Apparently Tsunade-sama had asked the Jounin-sensei's of Naruto's closest friends to tell us the news.." Ino said, "Asuma-sensei, Kurenai-sensei and Gai-sensei brought the teams together and told us. Kakashi-sensei was also there, but he didn't say much. Gai-sensei was crying before they even got to the point so it was mostly Asuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei who was talking..."

_**Flashback**_

"_Why are we here? We should be training, getting a new mission or something like that!" Kiba said frustrated. _

"_Kiba-kun.. If Kurenai-sensei has brought us here with Asuma-sensei and Gai-sensei's teams it must be important..." Hinata said in a low voice. She had begun to loose the habit of stuttering so much when she talked, but it still wasn't gone. Kiba looked at her and sighed before he looked at his sensei._

"_Gai-sensei! Why are you crying!?" Lee almost yelled when he saw tears streaming down Gai's face._

"_It is just not youthful!" Gai yelled and shook his fist into the air, "What did he do to you!"_

"_..What's going on?" Ino asked, asking the question that all the younger ninja's had in their heads._

_Kurenai and Asuma looked at each other and then over at Kakashi who was leaning against the tree next to them with his head down. Kurenai was about to start talking when Chouji beat her and asked another question. "Why aren't Naruto and Sakura here? Shouldn't they be at this meeting as well? Kakashi-sensei is here, so why aren't they?" _

_Gai, Asuma and Kurenai could feel Kakashi react to his words somehow, but didn't exactly know what kind of reaction. He was clearly sad and angry at the council members who voted for him to be banished. "Well.." Kakashi began, looking up from the ground. You could see that his only visible eye wasn't the same happy one, it was.. well.. a huge wave of emotions. "Sakura is working at the hospital and training with Tsunade-sama.. While Naruto.. He is the reason we have brought you guys together..." _

_They all looked at him confused. The worst thing Naruto could have done was a prank. Nothing serious about that. Not many would admit it, but they thought his pranks was really funny. "Well..Something has happened." 'How are we going to explain it to them without giving too much away?' Kurenai asked herself._

"_Naruto isn't around anymore. He.. He got banished from the village a week ago." Asuma said. He could both see and hear the shocked looks and gasps from the kids._

"_But you have to understand, this was not his fault. He didn't deserve to be banished. He was just.. unlucky." Tsunade had told them not to revile that Naruto was the jailer of the Kyuubi, mainly because she meant they wasn't ready yet. However, Asuma could already see Shikamaru putting two and two together. He knew his student so much._

_Kurenai looked over at Hinata, she seemed to be the one who took it hardest of them all. She did have feelings towards Naruto, different feelings than anyone else of them have so it must have been even harder for her. Kurenai smiled slightly however when Kiba put a arm around Hinata and hugged her in a comforting way. Hinata seemed slightly shocked at first, but managed to give a small smile when Kiba said something to her, which nobody else seemed to catch. _

"_GAI-SENSEI! HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN TO NARUTO-KUN!? COULDN'T THEY SEE HOW YOUTHFUL HE IS?!" Lee yelled as he and Gai cried their eyes out, surprisingly fast making a small river. _

"_LEE! I DON'T KNOW WHY, BUT THEY ARE VERY UNYOUTHFUL PEOPLE! HE IS INDEED A VERY YOUTHFUL BOY, AND THAT IS WHY WE MUST NEVER FORGET HIM!" Gai yelled back while he cried. _

_TenTen looked over at Neji who was staring at the ground and sighed, 'He was the one who managed to break some sense into his skull.. Must be hard for him to know he got banished, but not knowing of what..' She thought. She too was sad, but she didn't have a relationship with Naruto as Neji did. Naruto didn't change how she looked at life or how she acted like he did for Neji. She knew Neji was very thankful to Naruto for this. _

_Chouji had been so shocked by the news that he dropped his chips bag, his mouth open and the chips in his mouth fell out. Even though Kurenai said he didn't do anything wrong, he too couldn't think that Naruto would anything wrong. The worst thing he did was to play a few light pranks once in a while... It's not like he killed somebody!_

_Shino didn't do much. You couldn't really tell much since he wore sunglasses as well as a jacket that hid most of his face. The eyes and the mouth is the parts of your face that can show you what other people think, and he hid it every day. Actually nobody knew why, but he must have a reason to do so. All of the Aburame's did. Some showed more of their faces than the others, but they all seemed to hide their mouths and eyes. _

_Ino was shocked like the rest of them, but automatically her mind went to Sakura. She must have felt like hell right now. Sasuke left the village for power, and now Naruto was banished from the village for some reason. What was the next? Ino didn't even want to know. 'That explains why she has been so down lately. Her mood suddenly changed, and it most certainly wasn't that time of the month..' Ino thought. Everybody had seen that Sakura had been in a sad mood lately, but whenever she could keep herself busy it was as if she was a little happier. That way she could get her mind on something else.. But when she had nothing to do her mind went back to him.. That was why Sakura had such weird moods lately.. _

"_I'll be taking my leave." Kakashi said. No one said anything, but Asuma nodded towards him signaling that he understood. What surprised most of them was that he didn't pull his orange book back out. That was a bad sign for our copy ninja!_

_**End Flashback**_

"Everybody has taken it hard. They all miss him, just like you do." Ino said with a smile.

"He sure has changed, right?" Sakura asked with a smile.

Ino nodded, "He has. You have changed quite a bit as well, I mean training under Hokage-sama!" Ino said excitedly. "How is it going so far?"

Sakura smiled, "It's going great! I've started to do small things at the hospital as well. Just the other day I healed Kiba's arm.. Well.. not completely healed it.. But did all I could do... And apparently that's all I'm supposed to do if anyone comes into a situation like that, unless it's under a war or something like that. His body has to work on it's own so it can get stronger." Sakura said and Ino smiled.

"That's awesome! You really have come so far already?" Ino asked with a smile, Sakura chuckled and smiled.

"Well, I still have a lot to learn.. I only know the basic stuff. That's why I'm studying as much as I can and train as much as I'm allowed to."

"Allowed to?" Ino asked, clearly not understanding.

"Tsunade-sama is afraid I will go over my limit and be out for days.. She doesn't want that." Sakura said and scratched the back of her head, a habit she got from Naruto.

"You really take it all out, don't you?" Ino said before laughing. Sakura looked at her confused, "Do you have anything important to do?" Ino asked.

"Well I'm going to train with Tsunade-sama again today." Sakura said.

"When will you be off?"

"I'm not quite sure.. I'm taking a short shift at the hospital after training.. I guess around 6 PM... Why?"

Ino smiled, "Well, I'm throwing a sleepover with the girls. It's starting at 6 PM, you wanna come? Hinata and TenTen is coming."

"Alright, I'll come. I'll probably come a little late though.." Sakura said and then her eyes widened, "I'm gonna be late! Bye Ino!" Sakura yelled before she ran off towards the Hokage tower.

* * *

"Alright Naruto! Let's start with Fuuton: Renkudan. Turn towards that stone right there." Jiraya said to Naruto and he did what he was told. He used the seals the technique had and then took a deep breath, then punched himself in the stomach. Very small wind bullets came out of his mouth, but they nearly didn't make any damage on the stone. Naruto took some time to breathe before he tried again. He made the seals, took a deep breath and punched himself in the stomach. The bullets were still small, but they made slightly more damage than the last ones. "You have to concentrate your chakra while you do this Naruto. The more chakra you put into your stomach, the more damage the bullets make." Jiraya said. Naruto nodded and tried again.. and again. And again.. and again.

After three hours of doing the same thing over and over again, Naruto collapsed on the ground. Jiraya was on his side with a bottle of cold water. "Take a break. That way you'll be able to go on a lot longer." He said and Naruto nodded.

As Naruto took a break, he began to think about the same thing as he did the day before. If he wasn't able to protect himself, he'd die. In a year he would have to be training and living alone and he wouldn't have anyone to help him whenever he gets into that kind of trouble. _'I have to focus.. I need to learn as much as possible..'_ Naruto thought to himself.

-.--...'

Alright.. I'm really sorry this is like.. short and crappy.. and it came out pretty late.. But right now, I think I'm going crazy.. I have big problems concentrating and that is very irritating.. That way I can't write a lot.. But.. yeah..

Right now the story seems to focus more on Sakura than on Naruto. But there is a reason to that. I just need you to patient.. :P I don't know how many chapters there is before the time jump.. but.. It's the time jump I really wanna write.. so.. yeah.. Anyways, again, I don't know when I will be able to update next.. I'm, going through a lot with my health and everything right now, and my uncle is coming to have a heart operation.. It's a very dangerous operation so I'm very worried about him as well..


	7. Chapter 7

**The still living dream**

**A/N; **Thank you for the nice words I've gotten from some of you , both about my hand, health and my uncle. He survived the operation and everything is good now! :D However, his throat is a little soar for that thingie that was in it so he got oxygen.

**Fabulous people:** Kaiser Spartan, Genaric Name, adlex47Liger0, chickenman00712, Starfire99, foreverbobae, Elly-sama, DrendeSalkash,

_**Here's a little poll for you;**_

**Sasuke;**

Dies- 7

Back to Konoha and has gotten nicer over the years- 6

Back to Konoha and stayed the same- 3

Still a threat to Konoha- 1

_Since this is so close I think I might make a mix between the two winners, but I'm not sure yet._

**Pairings;**

ChouIno- 2

GaaMat-2

_Some pairing have been decided. _

* * *

_'I hope everything is alright Naruto...'_ Sakura thought as she checked up on her normal patients. She had came a little late for her training and her shift at the hospital because she got caught up talking with Ino. However, when Tsunade heard that, she waved the fact that she was late off. It seemed like Tsunade was just happy that Sakura talked to her friends again and didn't stay to herself. And the fact that Sakura was going to a sleepover with her friends was good as well, she would get social with her friends again.

"So what the Nidaime Hokage said: What are a cute young girl like you doing outside at this hour?" The old lady that Sakura was currently taking care of said. She had to be in her middle 90s. It got Sakura out of her thoughts.

"Really?" Sakura asked with a smile and the woman nodded, giving Sakura a smile back in the process. "Well that was an interesting story." Sakura said. She loved hearing stories like these. They might not all be real, just like this one, Sakura could tell the woman was twisting a little on the truth, but still it was entertaining.

"Yes, and after that, I swear he gave me some looks.." The woman replied. Sakura laughed. She finished up her check up and walked out of the room after she said goodbye.

Now she had to go to her desk and find the new papers for the new patients. She was getting a few patients today that got hurt while they were on a mission, trained or maybe some even had an accident. When she came downstairs she was about to walk to her desk when she saw Team 8 standing at the front desk. She looked at Kiba's arm and sighed. "Kiba..." She said with a tired voice. In the back of her head she knew Kiba would never listen to her and take it as easy as she told him to.. But Kurenai was with him nearly all the time when he and his team was training and she could be scary. Team 8 looked over at her and you could see that Kiba got worried at once he saw Sakura. She walked over to him and looked at his arm without saying anything. Kiba began to relax, thinking that she wouldn't make a big deal out of it. Then suddenly she hit him in the back of his head and yelled at him. "KIBA! I TOLD YOU TO TAKE IT EASY!"

Kiba immediately started to rub the back of his head. "OW!"

Sakura sighed again, "What did you do Kiba?" she asked but before Kiba managed to answer her, somebody said Sakura's name.

"Sakura."

Sakura turned around, "Yes?" She asked in her normal and sweet voice and turned around. Tsunade was looking down at some papers she had in her hands.

"Have you read these books? You suddenly started studying the books we have in your free time, which is good, I just lost a little control over your training and studying schedule." Tsunade said and showed Sakura a paper with five different book titles.

Sakura looked over the titles and nodded, "I have." She answered.

Tsunade nodded and placed the paper down at Sakura's desk and wrote something on the paper. "Then you will have a test when you're finished with your patients. How far have you come by the way?" Tsunade asked and handed the paper with the book titles to a nurse that didn't seem to have anything to do. She started writing down different questions from the books.

"Well, I just finished the first part of patients and will start on the second part right away. It will take a few more minutes though, Kiba has hurt his arm again even though I told him to take it easy." Sakura said and Tsunade looked at Kiba and then his arm. Tsunade suddenly hit him at the back of his head.

"OW!" Kiba yelled and started rubbing the back of his head.

"YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO TAKE IT EASY JUST AS THE MEDIC SAYS! HOW COULD YOU BE SO RECKLESS?!" Tsunade turned back to Sakura, "Right, well report to me when you're finished Sakura."

"Hai!" Sakura answered and turned towards team 8. "You can go into room..." Sakura stretched out the 'room' part as she looked over to one of the nurses for a room that was available.

"Room 11" A nurse said and Sakura smiled and nodded her thanks.

"Room 11" She said and smiled at them. "I'll come in a second." She said.

Before anyone could move a muscle, much less move or do anything Sakura was glomped by a ball of green. A person she later figured out. It was not Tsunade, because she was much taller and she was currently standing right next to her, besides.. This person had black hair.. "SAKURA-CHAN!!" The person yelled out and started crying, catching everybody in the whole reception area's attention. She soon figured out that it was Lee who was hugging her and crying like crazy. Sakura blinked a few seconds, not expecting that before she awkwardly returned the hug by patting him on his back. She had her eyebrow raised towards Hinata who looked right back at her with the same confused look, but also one of concern, she was still the same shy girl. Lee started yelling/screaming/saying things she couldn't make any sense out of because his words was drowned by the crying.

"Lee-san, you have to slow down and stop.. crying... I can't understand a words of what you're saying..." Sakura said calmly while trying to calm him down.

"I can't believe it! It must be so hard for you!... Oh, SAKURA-CHAN!!" Le finished off with a scream/yell before going back into a fit of tears. Sakura looked up at all the people who was staring, mainly team 8, Tsunade and some of the nurses.

_'Naruto... Everyone's sad...'_ Sakura thought for herself while looking at team 8 for any help. She then spotted Gai's team coming towards them. When she looked closer she saw Gai with tears in his eyes as well. "Umm... Lee-san.. Gai-sensei is here.. You wanna.. eh.. hug him? I have to work so.." She said carefully, trying to not make it sound like she wanted to get rid of him. Lee pulled away and wiped away a tear from his eye, then launched himself at Gai.. And cried more...

Sakura looked at his teammates and noticed that Neji seemed to be injured. "What happened to you Neji?" Sakura asked. Hinata looked over at her cousin and gasped. He had open cuts from different weapons. _'TenTen...' _Sakura thought for herself.

_'It's almost weird that Asuma's team isn't here..'_ Kurenai thought to herself but then she heard a very familiar yell. She turned around and saw Shikamaru and Ino on each side of Asuma, helping him walk while Chouji was walking beside Shikamaru with his bag of chips. Kurenai sweat dropped. She then had to let out a light laugh when she saw the funny look on Asuma's face with each step he took which seemed to hurt quite a lot. When they arrived their little group Sakura and Tsunade looked questionably at Asuma, and then looked at his team searching for an answer of what had happened.

Ino rubbed the back of her head, "He kind of... Sat down on the oven at the Barbecue bar..." she said and laughed uncomfortably.

Tsunade looked from Kiba to Neji to Asuma before turning towards Sakura. "Take care of them before you work on your other patients Sakura." She said and started to walk away.

Sakura quickly turned around, "Eh?! Tsunade-sama!"

Tsunade sighed and turned around to face her youngest pupil. "As a medic ninja your job out on the battlefield is to save as many lives as possible. When you're in a battle, you will be stressed and be put under a lot of pressure. That is something you will have to be aware and ready for. This is good training for you." She said.

Sakura nodded her head showing she got that, "But Asuma-sensei..." Sakura stopped a moment to think, "What am I supposed to do with that?"

Tsunade let out a quick laugh, "Well, his ass got burned because he sat on an oven.. Use you imagination." Tsunade said with a smile clearly enjoying herself.

"I..." Sakura began but a look from Tsunade stopped her. Sakura quickly put on a somewhat fake smile, "Room 11?" Tsunade nodded and laughed before she began to walk away. Sakura sighed and turned to the group. "Room 11."

The group went into the room and Sakura followed after she picked up two unfilled papers for people who got injured. When she arrived the room Kiba and Neji was already sitting on a bed each, while Kurenai and Ino was helping Asuma lay down on another bed on his stomach so he didn't have to sit on his burned butt. "Did you cool it down, Asuma-sensei?" Sakura asked. Asuma lifted his head from the pillow slightly to look at her. He then shook his head no. She sighed, "That's the first thing you have to do. That way there would be less pain." She said, "There's a shower behind that curtain. Get help from somebody and make the water really cold." Sakura said. Seeing that nobody else seemed to be going to help him, Kurenai sighed and helped Asuma up from his laying position and led him behind the shower. She turned on the cold water and let the water splutter on his butt, where most of his clothes was actually gone, so he was pretty embarrassed when he walked through the village. Luckily, The hospital and the Barbecue bar isn't so far away from each other.

Sakura turned to Ino and TenTen and gave them a paper each, "Could you please fill out these papers and write down what happened to Asuma-sensei and Neji?" Sakura asked and the two girls nodded. Sakura then turned towards Kiba and Neji and tried to figure out who she had to work at first.

"Take Neji first." Kiba said, clearly hiding all of his pain. Sakura looked at Neji who was shaking his head. Sakura took her pen and slightly tapped the part of Kiba's arm that didn't have any wounds. He flinched, "Ow!"

Sakura sighed and began to clean the wounds and then healing them as much as she was able to. All the time Kiba winced as the alcohol poured into his wounds and cleaning them. When Sakura finished healing him she wrapped a bandage around his arm just as she did the last time he was there. She then turned to Neji. The weapons was already out of course. Probably TenTen who felt sorry for him and did it. Something must have been used to stop the bleeding on some of the bigger wounds, which was a good thing, he could have lost too much blood. She cleaned the wounds and began healing the ones on his arms. After she had bandaged the wounds she looked at his stomach. "Off with the shirt." _'If that's what you call it.' _Sakura thought for herself as she walked over to the drawers to get more supplies. When she turned around she saw that Neji had taken off his shirt and she could see the pretty big wound on his stomach. She narrowed her eyes while trying to figure out what kind of weapon that did that.

Neji seemed to have seen her questioning look and decided to answer her, "Windmill Shuriken." Neji said and Sakura got the curious look off her face and replaced it with a understanding one as she nodded.

When she exterminated it she let out a sigh of relief. "It didn't hit any vital points, however it was pretty close. If the Windmill Shuriken had been thrown with more power, you'd probably been dead by now." Sakura said and Hinata gasped. Sakura noticed this and quickly added, "But since TenTen know so much about weapons, I'm sure she knew exactly how much power to put into such a weapon and the aim for not to kill." TenTen nodded, "But still it was a close call. If the bleeding hadn't been stopped at the time it was, you could also be dead now." Sakura began to clean the wound and put on some bandage on it.

"Thank you for your help Sakura." Neji said when she was finished and began to stand up, only to wince from the pain in his stomach. TenTen was by his side and took an arm of his around her shoulder and helped him sit up in bed properly before standing up.

"Hey, be careful! No more training in at least four days! No matter what ANYONE says. The best thing you can do right now is to lay down on a bed and eat healthy food. Alright? You're allowed to go home if you promise me this. If I see ANY signs that you haven't listened to me, I'm gonna beat you so bad you will stay here for a whole month. Got it?" Sakura said with a stern tone. She knew how the Hyuuga's were with training and their health. And that Neji was a branch member didn't make it any better. Luckily Hinata was here at the moment, maybe she would be willing to help him if necessary. "Hinata, when you are home, could you make sure of that?" Sakura asked. Hinata nodded.

"It hurts! OW!" They could hear Asuma yell from the shower. "It is so damn cold!" Asuma complained from the shower.

"It wouldn't have hurt as much if you did this right away." Kurenai said calmly.

Sakura looked at her watch. "You can stop now Asuma-sensei, Kurenai-sensei."

"Dry him off right?" You could hear Kurenai ask after she had turned off the water.

"Yes." Sakura said. "Then he'll have to put on that shirt that is laying on the desk over there."

When Asuma and Kurenai came out of the shower, Asuma was wearing a usual huge hospital shirt along with his boxers. Which was, noticed Sakura, not wet from the shower... _'Ooookaaaay...'_ Sakura thought for herself and turned around to get again new supplies. When she opened the drawer however, she stopped up and stared. The other noticed this and looked at her with a confused look on their faces. Sakura used her right hand to pick up something, and when she brought it up with her index finger attached to the string of a black bra. Sakura stared at it for a moment before turning around to face the others who had the same looks on their faces.. Well.. Most of them had.. I bet you could guess what Kiba, Hinata, Neji, Shino and Lee's faces looked like.

Suddenly somebody just walked through the door without knocking. "Hey, I heard you burned your- Oh, is that where it was?" Anko said as she walked into the room. She walked over to Sakura and used her own index finger to lift the black bra from the pink haired one and gave a bright smile. She stuffed the bra into one of her pockets and looked at Sakura. "You don't have the panties as well? I had a matching set."

Sakura looked at her as if she was crazy. Sakura slowly shook her head no and Anko sighed. Kurenai brought her hand up to her mouth to prevent her from giggling. "Well, I think we should go outside now so Sakura can treat Asuma. Burns is another deal you know." She said and everybody else nodded. Kiba was helped up by Hinata by pure reflex while TenTen helped Neji standing up and walking.

Anko huffed, "Well... I guess I'll just have to wait until someone finds it then.. Tell me when you find it alright? And if I find out you did anything weird, I'll kill you." Anko said with a cheerful voice, which you find scary pretty fast. Sakura nodded with her eyes wide.

When they walked out of the room Sakura went over to the same desk she had found Anko's bra in and pulled out the necessary supplies and walked over to Asuma. He was laying on his stomach with his face facing away from her. Sakura sighed,_ 'This will be so awkward..'_

* * *

"Alright Naruto. Come at me with the intent to kill." Jiraya ordered. Naruto nodded. "BEGIN!" Jiraya yelled.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled and made 5 clones of himself all running at Jiraya at the same time. Each of them raised their fist's and launched at Jiraya two at the time. Jiraya simply took a Taijutsu stance and began to dodge his attacks and then hit the clones. As he hit the real Naruto in the gut, Naruto stopped moving as if he lost all the oxygen in his body, he was then replaced by a log.

_'Kawarimi Jutsu...'_ Jiraya thought as he looked around for Naruto. He spun around when he felt Naruto running at him with a kunai in his hand. Jiraya pulled out a kunai of his own and used it to defense himself.

"Fuuton: Renkudan!" Jiraya heard from behind him and jumped out of the way. The air bullets hit Naruto's Kage Bunshin and it vanished into thin air. Jiraya turned around and noticed Naruto breathing slightly hard because of the technique. He certainly wasn't used to that kind of technique yet. But he had the power in it down. All he had to do was to get used to use it. Jiraya decided to test out his other two wind element techniques so he threw 5 shurikens at him. "Fuuton: Daitoppa!" Naruto yelled, sending a powerful explosion which sent the 5 shurikens back at Jiraya. Jiraya jumped out of the way and launched at him with another kunai. Naruto slightly cursed under his breath, Jiraya was way faster than him. At this point he could only think of one thing to do. Jiraya's kunai came in contact with Naruto by he caught it with his arm, making his hand bleed.

_'Just like when he saved Tsunade..'_ Jiraya thought and made himself ready to dodge the Rasengan that would come. However it didn't. Instead, Naruto got a smirk on his face.

Suddenly Jiraya was hit up into the air from the back. With each kick or punch he could hear Naruto.. No.. The Naruto's say; "Uzumaki Naruto Rendan!" Jiraya hit the ground and made a crater, but when Naruto went over to him to check on him, he puffed away. "Damn.." Naruto said to himself as he looked around and tried to locate his sensei's chakra.

_'He has gotten better at both hiding his chakra and observing, also doing a little planning in difficult situations.. But that's nothing we can't work on to make it better...'_ Jiraya though with a smirk on his face. Naruto then suddenly looked towards the bush Jiraya was hiding in, secretly observing him. He could see Naruto narrowing his eyes. _'Has he noticed me?'_ He then saw him use his right hand and carefully slid his hand into his pocket and stopped moving. His eyes were still narrowed in his direction. There was a hustle from a tree on Naruto's right side and he waisted no time in throwing a shuriken at the tree where the hustle came from. Down fell a VERY scared squirrel. Luckily it wasn't hurt. It just ran away. Jiraya sweat dropped. 'He didn't notice me?' Just then , Naruto sent 5 shurikens right towards Jiraya. Jiraya jumped out of the bush and over Naruto.

Naruto turned around and saw that Jiraya was preparing a jutsu. When he saw him finishing the seals his eyes widened slightly. _'Katon...!'_ He thought for himself.

"Katon: Goukakyuu!" Jiraya yelled and out of his mouth came a huge fireball out of Jiraya's mouth.

Naruto had to think fast. "Fuuton: Atsugai!" He yelled and blew a massive gust of pressurized wind from his mouth and it made contact with the fireball which caused a huge explosion catching both Naruto and Jiraya off guard. They went flying backwards and both of them hit a tree.

_'That was very unexpected...' _Jiraya thought for himself. He tried to stand up but when he tried he wasn't able to. He looked down on his right leg to see that it was injured from the explosion. _'Damn..'_ He cursed under his breath. He leaned his back against the tree and waited for the smoke to clear. When it cleared however, he saw Naruto also struggling to stand up. It seemed as if he had gotten a stronger blast from the explosion that he himself had gotten. Jiraya couldn't help but to stare at Naruto though.. Even in all that pain, he still began to stand up.

"Heh..." Naruto said and wiped away some blood away from his mouth. "That would be an interesting jutsu.." Naruto said to himself before standing properly up. He looked Jiraya in the eyes and grinned.

The look told Jiraya that he wasn't finished with his fight. Jiraya pushed himself up, ignoring the pain in his leg. Jiraya observed Naruto, waiting for his attack. But then Naruto suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke. _'A shadow clone?' _Jiraya asked confused. He then felt himself being kicked in the back and soon he was laying on the ground with a kunai at his neck. _'He's taking advantage of my handicap right now.. But when the HELL did he make that shadow clone?!'_

"Ne, Ero-sennin, how did I do?" Naruto asked, the kunai still at his neck.

"You did good. You took your time to observe and think about different ways to come out of a difficult situation and you took advantage of my handicap.. When did you make that shadow clone by the way? I can't remember seeing you make one." Jiraya said and looked up at Naruto, who was pulling the kunai away and helping his sensei stand up.

"Right after the explosion when the smoke still covered everything around us. However, I wasn't fast enough to avoid the explosion, but that's something I will work on." Naruto said with a bright smile.

Jiraya smiled. _'Minato... He really is your son...'_ Jiraya smiled as he thought back at the day Minato and Kushina had told him that they wanted to Name their son after the main character in his first book and they wanted him to be his godfather.. That was a long time ago, but good times. _'You must be really proud of him, he has become strong even with the burden placed upon him.'_

"Naruto, you did great. However, we will have to work on these kind of situations. Both of us could have been killed today if the explosion got too powerful. We were very lucky today." Jiraya said and looked at him and gave him a smile. "I'm proud to be your sensei Naruto. I'm sure you'll get far."

Naruto smiled at this and scratched the back of his head while laughing a little. "He he, thanks Ero-sennin."

"Will you ever stop calling me that?" Jiraya asked annoyed.

Naruto thought long and hard about it. "Nope, I don't think so..." Naruto said before grinning. "Where are we off to now?" He asked.

'He's so much like both of you, Minato, Kushina...' Jiraya thought to himself as he smiled mentally. He looked down at his body and sighed, "Probably the hospital, these wounds and burns wont heal themselves.." Jiraya trailed off as he looked at Naruto who had already began to heal because of the Kyuubi, "Well... No matter, It would be to the best if we got to one." Jiraya said and Naruto sighed and nodded.

Naruto didn't really want to go to any hospitals at all, except maybe one, the one where Sakura worked.

They managed to get themselves to the hospital and they were treated immediately. The one's who worked at the hospital here however wasn't ninjas, so there was no chakra healing going on, just cleaning of wounds, bandaging and that kind of stuff. The doctors treating them had been shocked out of their minds when they saw them coming into the hospital in their condition. However, when they told them they were ninja's, they somehow understood and suddenly recognized Naruto. The doctors had insisted that they were to stay in the hospital to get better, but Jiraya and Naruto assured them that it was alright.

They decided to go the restaurant to get something to eat, and you probably understand that when they saw them all bandaged up, with burns over their bodies, they freaked out. _'Tsunade, I wish you was here...'_ Jiraya thought as he kept hearing the people, especially Mitsu, asking if they were alright, if it hurt anywhere and so on.

* * *

"Ah, Sakura, welcome!" Inoichi said and smiled at her, "Come in, come in. Ino is in the living room along with Hinata and TenTen. Just make yourself comfortable and feel like home." He said.

Sakura stepped inside their house, "Thank you , Inoichi-san." She said giving him a smile before taking off her shoes and walking into the living room, passing Ino's mother in the process. Ino's mom gave her a hug and a greeting before she let Sakura go to Ino and the others.

When Ino saw Sakura coming she smiled. "Sakura, I'm glad you made it." She said. "I already got your stuff from your house. I told your mom that you'd stay here, and she packed the normal stuff you bring." Sakura nodded and gave her a thanks.

Sakura gave each of the girls a hug before sitting down at the couch while sighing. The girls chuckled slightly. "Rough day?" TenTen asked and Sakura nodded.

"How are Kiba and Neji by the way?" Sakura asked and looked at Hinata and TenTen.

"Kiba's arm still hurts, but I guess that's just normal, while Neji is laying in his bed resting." Hinata said. Her stuttering had been progressing a lot, but it came back once in a while. When she gets unsure about herself or unsure about something, if she's around boys or people who had higher ranks than her. Her father is also included. She had been a little scared to tell him that Neji had to take it easy for a few days and not train, but everything went well.

Sakura nodded, "Well, that's good.."

"Exactly how did you heal Asuma-sensei? He acted so weird after he came out of the hospital.. And when I asked if he thought you did a good job, he kind of.. Well, I don't know.. blacked out before answering. He said yes, by the way." Ino said and looked at her questionably.

Sakura sighed, "I'd rather not talk about it.." She said and looked at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing in the whole entire world.

TenTen looked at Sakura, "Well Ino.." She said and looked over at Ino. "He burned his butt, use your imagination..." TenTen said.

_'That's just what Tsunade-sama said..'_ Sakura thought and laughed mentally.

Ino opened her mouth to ask what she meant by that, and then she understood what she meant. "...Ew..."

There was about 3 minutes of silence before Ino said anything again. "Anyway, Sakura, there's a little rumor going on.." Sakura looked up at Ino. She and Ino had always been gossip girls. "There's a rumor that a blond haired boy with blue eyes, around 13 years old saved a whole town from bandits for about 2 and a half week ago.. Sounds familiar?" Ino looked at Sakura and smiled at her reaction. Sakura smiled and looked down at her hands.

_'Naruto, you really do things that makes people respecting you, don't you?' _Sakura though with a smile.

* * *

**9 months later**

"Well, today is the day I have to go back to Konoha... I'm sorry this has to be done Naruto." Jiraya said as he looked down on his very much improved student.

Naruto smiled, "It's alright, this isn't your fault you know."

Jiraya sighed. He then pulled out some scrolls. "Here's some jutsu scrolls. It's different techniques I wasn't able to teach you, also, there it is a scroll with some money in it, just in case you run out of it. I trust you to be realistic with how you spend your money..?"

Naruto nodded and took the scrolls from him with a smile, "Thanks!"

"Oh, and since I know how much you love ramen..." Jiraya pulled out another scroll, "Here." He could see Naruto start drooling over the scroll. He laughed, "Just don't eat it all at once."

Naruto nodded eagerly, this was probably the best gift Jiraya had given him.. If you look away from the training.

Naruto looked up at him, and at that point, Jiraya saw Minato in his eyes. He sighed, _' I can't believe they forbid me to tell him about his parents..'_ Jiraya thought to himself. He would give that damn council some of his mind when he got back to Konoha. What was their dumb excuse for that? Jiraya looked up at the sun. "Well, I have to go now Naruto. You take care of yourself. If you ever need anything weather it's help or money, just summon a frog or send a bird and I'll come or send money. Alright?" Naruto nodded and smiled. Jiraya couldn't help but notice that Naruto took this better than he himself did. Jiraya cold even feel tears well up in his eyes! "Hug?" Jiraya asked with a cheery voice. Naruto looked at him like he was crazy. One second he was near tears, the next he was 'cheerful' and asking for a hug. Jiraya's eyebrow twitched, "Ey! I might be a pervert but I ain't no pedophile!" Naruto laughed and gave him a hug.. sort of.. Jiraya crushed him while Naruto tried to breathe.

When they pulled away from their hug, Naruto catching the breath he had lost due to the powerful hug, Jiraya turned around. "Well.. I'll see you around..." He said.

Naruto let out a chuckle, "See you around Jiraya-sensei." Naruto said before walking off.

Jiraya got a proud grin on his face. _'He called me sensei...' _ and began to walk back to Konoha.

* * *

"Jiraya!" Tsunade said as Jiraya came in through the door.._ 'He actually came through the door..'_

"Hey, Hime!" Jiraya said with a happy smile.

Tsunade smiled as well, but her smile soon faded when realization came to her._ 'Naruto's all by himself now..' _

Jiraya seemed to see this and walked over to Tsunade and placed a hand on her shoulder. "He's gonna be alright. He has learned nearly everything I know, and he has made a few friends here and there. He'll be alright." Seeing that Tsunade didn't seem to feel better by his words, he brought her into a hug, startling Tsunade.

Tsunade blinked a few times before returning the hug. _'Where did the pervert go? The aura I get from him now is.. **NON-PERVERTED**...' _Tsunade thought to herself before smiling and bringing him closer. When they pulled away she gave him a kiss on the cheek. Of course... Shizune had to come into the room right at this point...

"Tsunade-sama, I-eh..." She fainted. But before she did however, she managed to think; _'Deja-Vu!'_

* * *

Oh my god.. I'm so tired! Well, anyway, hope you like the chapter. I've taken some time to get things straight, things are still problematic, but hopefully things will go better with time.

Before any of you complaint about the whole Jiraya-not-telling-Naruto-about-his-parents-thingie.. There is a reason to that. That will come in later chapters. But I can tell you that he wont figure out who his mother is by himself.

Anyways, I would really appreciate it if you reviewed this chapter. I know I need more training at writing sparring/fighting scenes, but I guess that will come with time! :)

A cookie to the one who figures out why Sakura doesn't want to talk about when she healed Asuma's burns?


	8. Chapter 8

**The still living dream**

**A/N; **I'm sorry this chapter came out so late.. Upon my life as it is now, my grandmother died Wednesday 23rd July... I've been a wreck since then... I hope you guys understand.. My dad had his birthday the 29th July, and then my grandmothers funeral was the 1st August.. and then my cousin had his birthday the 5th.. And THEN I went to my other cousin's wedding on August 8th.. AND DID I MENTION MY SCHOOL STARTS AGAIN AUGUST 18th?!

Also, I just realized a mistake in the last chapter.. I wrote 9 months later, when I actually meant 11 months later.. Somehow I got it into my head that it was 10 months in a year... yeahh... Oh, and by the way... I couldn't figure out a name for the city in this story, so I decided to go with a real Japanese city.

**Fabulous people:** twin083, redsoxs94, Nebula1701, DrendeSalkash, xXbeautifullyshatteredXx, Genaric Name, Hisson, eternal-uchiha, adlex47Liger0, Darth Luffy, Starfire99, chickenman00712, kunaithower3000, Kaiser Spartan, Kingkakashi.

_**Voting is now off. You'll have to read to figure out what happens, but the Sasuke poll will most likely be a mix.**_

* * *

**8 months later.**

"You're going to a city called 'Kobe.' This city was the city that the man we think is the suspect was seen heading towards three days ago. You have two and a half week to complete this mission." Tsunade said, "I'm counting on you that you can succeed this mission. It's very important. This man is very dangerous to everyone."

"Yes Ma'am!" The four Shinobi said.

"Good. I want you all back safely. You leave in a half hour." Tsunade said and dismissed them.

* * *

It had been 8 months since Naruto had last seen anyone from Konoha. Jiraya was going to visit him every 6th month, but he couldn't make it. After what Naruto heard, he had gotten into a pretty bad fight with some guy at the hotspring who was peeking at Tsunade who was in the women's side of the hotspring. Sure, some of you'd think that he would have joined him on peeking, but no. Jiraya had gotten beaten up like a puddle when he peeked at her. Besides.. Nobody peeked on his Hime! However, when Tsunade heard arguing come from the other side of the wall, she got up and wrapped herself up in two towels, one over her upper body and one on her lower body and when she heard some guy yell 'What do you mean! She is totally hot!' and when she heard Jiraya go: 'I know that! But yet you don't-' That was all Jiraya could say before Tsunade punched the wall separating the women's hot spring and the men's hot spring sending both Jiraya and the unknown man through the wall and into the house where the men change their clothes and where the spa is.

You might understand that that alone, as well as the fight with the man before Tsunade punched the wall, which punched them, which made them go through another wall gave great damage on Jiraya. Of course, he was better off then the other man, because Jiraya explained everything to Tsunade, and she pretty much went crazy on the other man. However, Jiraya did get a quick 'sorry' first.

Naruto chuckled as he remembered what Jiraya had wrote in the letter explaining it to him. He had written the exact words. Except the whole 'My Hime' thing. Sure, Naruto knew that Jiraya was weak in the knees for Tsunade, both still.. Sometimes he had to ask himself twice. He was a pervert indeed, but he would never hurt his teammate, and not his best friend, Naruto figured. Also, the fact that Tsunade could kill him with one punch at the right place.. yeah, wouldn't like to be Jiraya if that point ever came.

Naruto inhaled oxygen. It had been eight months since he was in this very city. It had grown to become one of his favorite places. Basically because everyone was nice to him there. No glares, no bad comments and most important, no one tried to kill him simply by existing. It felt so good to be back here. It was like his second home. Yes, he still counted Konoha as his home, even thought he was not allowed to go inside of the gate. It's the place he was born and the place he grew up, that's just how it is.

Pretty much everyone who looked his way in this town knew who he was and recognized him immediately. They smiled and waved at him, some even took their time from their work or any task they were doing to talk a little to him, while others said 'hi' and 'bye' before moving on.

Naruto had been a few different places the last 8 months picking up some techniques and fighting styles, also taking a few random missions for some towns that was in serious need for someone to help them. Naruto didn't want to be paid though, but most of the time th people insisted that they'd pay him. He was just happy if everyone else was alright. If he wanted something in return it would be them telling him about the town/village/country, or simply letting him sleep the night if the weather was too bad to sleep outside. Some offered him these things, while other times he just simply asked. He had never gotten a no for an answer, basically because he had done something so good for them to begin with.

As he walked down the street towards the restaurant Mitsu worked at, his eyes caught a few persons faces. It's wasn't too long since he had fought with that exact gang. He had actually found them bothering some kids in a town not far away from this one a few months ago. It was the same people that was trying to crush the restaurant, now actually trying to steal candy from some kids.. Naruto fixed it with one easy kick in the ass for all of them.

Naruto walked down the streets towards the very same men as he had fought both in the restaurant about almost two years ago and in that other town which he couldn't remember the name of at the moment. He saw them bothering a few younger girls, older than him but still young girls that was selling flowers. He saw one of the men place one of his hands on a girl with red hair's hip. She clearly tried to push him back but the man was too strong for her. An other man tried to pull a girl with blond hair towards him, but she simply slapped him. This caused the man to get very angry and grab both of her wrists and pull her fiercely towards him so their faces were just inches apart. There was about 5 more men who were doing stuff to 3 other girls, but those two was the ones that stood out the most.

Naruto got an irritated look on his face and walked towards the men to give them some of his mind. As he walked, other people in the street both noticed who he was and where he was both looking and going. Some looked a little scared about what could happen to him, while others were proud and some were even a little scared of the look Naruto had on his face. _'Those guys are going to get their asses kicked...' _was everybody's thoughts.

* * *

"This place NEEDS to have dango, If they don't, I'm leaving!" Anko said fiercely. She sat down at the table in the corner of the restaurant. Her three teammates sighed and sat down at the round table as well.

"Anko! Do not be so un youthful! This place looks lovely!" Gai said as he sat down next to her. Anko just gave him a look that said ; 'If I don't get my dango I'll kill everyone in this store including you!' Gai didn't seem to let it get to him though, he just gave her his bright smile.

The woman with clear red eyes and dark black eyes looked away and over to the man who was secretly her boyfriend. They had been together for about a year now, and nobody knew.. Well.. Sakura might have figured it out by now. Kurenai had made the big mistake in writing 'Kurenai's property' on his ass the night before he burned his ass and had to go to the hospital. She would have to talk to Sakura later. Hopefully she wont say anything to anyone, she looked kind of flushed after treating him. The thing was, they didn't want to tell people about their relationship yet.. Basically because... well... they didn't have a reason really.. First it was to avoid Anko and Kakashi's words and meanings to their relationship. Not that they said anything bad, it's just that.. well, they got embarrassed. But as their relationship grew, they figured out that they would get both more and bolder remarks from their friends. And second was that they almost never got the time to be alone together.. So they wanted to be sure that their relationship would stay that way before they announced anything.

A waitress walked up to their table. She had blue-blackish hair and her eyes were almost just black. "Hello, my name is Kichi and I will be your waitress for today. What do you want to order?" She asked with a big smile.

"DO you have dango is the big question!" Anko asked loudly and hit the table with her fist as she leaned slightly towards the waitress. The waitress smiled and chuckled lightly, while almost everybody in the restaurant looked at Anko as if she was crazy when she said that not including Gai, Kurenai and Asuma.. They were used to it by now.

"Of course we have!" The waitress said with a smile. "I'm guessing that's what you want?"

Before Anko was able to answer however, somebody came flying through the glass door that was the main entrance of the restaurant. The person went flying through the restaurant and came crashing down at one of the wood tables and it broke with the person in the middle of all the mess with his arms on the two sides that had been broken in two. The person let out a loud sigh. The people in the restaurant became silent and looked at the person. Some people weren't able to see his face because of where they were sitting, Kurenai, Gai, Anko and Asuma was one of these. The cooks and waitresses came out of the kitchen and looked at the person.

Mitsu let a small chuckle out when she saw who it was. "Naruto, how do you manage to piss people off ?" She asked and crossed her arms over her chest and tried to keep her laugher back by smiling.

Naruto inhaled before he let out another heavy sigh, "I keep asking myself the same thing. How am I? Oh FINE!" He said trying to sound hurt but before he started to try and stand up he gave a slight chuckle. As he struggled to stand up he had some serious pain in his right thigh. As he managed to stand up completely he heard everyone gasp. He looked at Mitsu with a confused look and saw her shocked look at his.. well, butt he thought. He looked at his thigh and saw a piece of wood pierced into it. He let out a silent "Oh.." and pulled it out, causing some blood to come out of the wound. Naruto placed the wood piece on the counter and placed his hand on the wound and waited for it to heal for three seconds. When he pulled his hand away, Kyuubi had already healed the wound.

"...Wow... How did your wound heal so easily?" A random costumer asked. Naruto immediately looked at Mitsu for support.

"oh.." She said silently and quickly to herself before saying, "It's a technique he has, you know... Ninja..?"

Naruto blinked a few times as he stared into nowhere, it was a pretty lame excuse, but then again, his wound was healed by chakra... from the Kyuubi... but the others didn't know that. Mitsu knew however. Naruto had decided to tell her right before he and Jiraya left to travel to other places. As he had told her his whole life story, she cried and cried and cried. She didn't look different at him, sure, she had a lot more respect for him now as she knew what he had to go through as a kid, but she didn't hate him! The other people in the restaurant let out a 'oh..' in understanding and smiled at him. Naruto smiled back at a few of them with a smile and a raised eyebrow while he shrugged.

"COME HERE YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Some man yelled and stood where the door used to be. Naruto looked over at the man and sighed. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" Naruto just shrugged. The man kept walking towards Naruto until he was just a few inches away from him. He was a lot taller than him, so the man looked down at Naruto, his face only a few inches away from him. "You think you can beat me? Hah!" Naruto fought the urge to roll his eyes. "And these people? They're just a piece of crap!"

That was the last straw for Naruto.

Naruto quickly took the pan one of the cooks were holding and 'slapped' him at the side of his head. A loud '_dooiinng_' noise was heard and the man stumbled backwards. He placed his hand on the side of his head and felt blood. He looked at Naruto with angry eyes. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"

"I believe I'm hitting you with a pan." He said and hit him once more, this time on the other side of his head.

He placed his hand on the other side of his head and felt blood there as well. "You brat! Taking on the Kira gang?!"

"You guys have a name now?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow and gave the pan back to the cook.

"Of course we have! The new leader is the most fierce and powerful person!" He answered.

"...Aha...?" Naruto asked with a bored expression on his face. He had never met this man or their new 'leader', but he knew that he shouldn't underestimate them.. "Why would someone join the club, much less be the leader?" Naruto asked.

"You! How dare you speak of our leader like that!?"

A pink haired girl around nine years old then poked the man on the shoulder and he turned around quickly and yelled "WHAT!?" The pink haired girl waisted no time and kicked the man in the crotch. The man bent over with.. no sound really, he just fell to his knees.

Naruto's mouth fell open as he could almost feel the pain himself. The other men in the restaurant either covered their own crotch or made a almost painful noise. Naruto looked to his left out while his mouth was still open with a somewhat.. painful look on his face. That was when he saw Anko, Gai, Kurenai and Asuma stare at him. His face immediately went from a painful one to a shocked/confused one and he used his right hand to make on slight wave at them to show he saw them. His thoughts went back to the guy and looked at him. He was stumbling his way out of the restaurant. As soon as he came outside, someone Naruto suspected to be another member of their gang came and helped him. When the two men was gone from their view Naruto turned towards the pink haired girl, Hana, and looked at her as if she was crazy. She looked back at him. "What? You kick their asses and if I want to do something to help I might as well kick him in the crotch."

"HANA!" Her mother yelled from her table.

"Butt..." She corrected quietly.

Naruto let out a chuckle and ruffled her hair, something that had become a habit of his. As much as he hated that people did that to him, he found that it came natural for him to ruffle younger kid's hair. The girl grinned and playfully slapped his hand away. Naruto was going to look over to Kurenai and the others but before he was even able to turn around he was attacked by something green. "NARUTO! YOUR YOUTH SHINE BRIGHTLY!" He yelled and started to cry. Naruto started to have problems breathing and started to turn blue.

"Gai, let go of him, you're going to kill him." Kurenai said and Gai let go of him and gave him the nice guy pose. Naruto gave a slightly unsure smile back at him before giving Kurenai a thankful look. Kurenai smiled slightly back at him.

"What are you doing here, Naruto?" Asuma asked.

"Just visiting some friend. I'm guessing you guys have a mission?" Naruto said and Asuma nodded.

"Well! Looks like you've grown, huh?" Anko said and took a hold of Naruto's shoulder and forced him to look at her.

"Ehh..." Naruto said confused.

Truth was, yes, he had hit puberty, but he hadn't really noticed anything. Sure, if he thought about it, he had to buy new clothes, his old one's now too small. He now had black pants, new ninja sandals, his shoe size also changing, black tight t-shirt and a black jacket he used whenever it was a little breezy but currently it was around his waist. Sure, it was all black, but he didn't really care. He had gotten it through his skull that wearing orange when you're a ninja isn't the smartest thing. In his pockets he had a few scrolls which contained all of his belongings. It was food, extra money, extra shuriken and kunai, also different jutsu scrolls with jutsu's he had picked up different places but had yet to learn. Also the scroll that Jiraya gave him.

"Hmm.. You've gotten rid of the orange... Good choice.. Now, all black? It makes you blend into the dark easily, but it's kinda boring, don't you think?" Anko said as she looked him over. He even had black ninja sandals.

"Does that really matter?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow. Anko herself wore all dark colors as well, not all black, but dark.

"Not really. Kinda hot." She said with a huge smile on her face, making Naruto scared to death. He remembered that 'smile.' It was the same one she had when they entered the Forest of Death.

"Anko!" Kurenai said and looked at her. Anko looked back at her.

"What?" She asked innocently and Kurenai sighed and shook her head. Funny how Anko could be her best friend, and they were so much unlike.

"Naruto, who are your friends?" A man behind the counter asked. His name was Bob and he was the chief of the whole restaurant.

So after that Naruto had to introduce everybody to everybody. Everyone figured out that Anko and one of the waitresses, Kumi, was VERY alike. In nearly every way. They also decided to sit down and eat together. Asuma figured out that they could ask Naruto if he had seen anything or if he knew anybody that had seen anything strange. You see, their mission was to kill a rapist. You'd probably think he is like every other rapist, but no. This man was actually a Jounin level ninja. He had been banished from his village because of all the harm he had done to many women and girls. Everybody wanted this man dead. He had become a S-class missing-nin after he had killed nearly 50 women in a week. However, nobody had been able to hunt him down. He had changed his looks completely and all people had was a description of what he looked like before his changes in his looks and how he acted around people. Sure, they thought they knew who this guy was, but they didn't know for sure. They hadn't even seen a picture of the suspect. But they couldn't take any chances.

"Here you go, Dango, Sushi and water to everyone. Is there anything else you'd like?" Kichi asked with a smile.

"Yeah, could I get a sandwich or something? I've already eaten dinner some time ago, but I'm starting to get a little hungry again. Oh and some water, please?" Naruto asked and Kichi looked at him like he was crazy. "What?" Naruto asked confused. Kichi gave Mitsu and Kumi a shocked and confused look and they gave one right back to her.

Kichi shook her head and half rolled her eyes, "I just figured out you'd have ramen.. Oh well. HEY BOB! Naruto wants a sandwich!" She yelled and a rather large but muscular man came out from the kitchen and looked at her like she was crazy. She just gave him a look and shrugged her shoulders and he went into the kitchen to get a sandwich. Bob happened to be the chief of the restaurant... And yes, he did have a name like no others, but he wasn't from elemental. He came out of the kitchen with a sandwich and threw it over to Naruto which he easily caught.

"Thanks!" He yelled to him and sat down. Kichi came over with a glass of water to him and he thanked her as well.

"So what are you guys going to do next?" Naruto asked.

"Well, we'll be starting to ask people if they have seen anyone that looked suspicious around here. After that, we'll just have to see what leads we get." Asuma said and drank from his water.

"I'll help you guys. It's been a while since I could do something mission like stuff." Naruto said and started eating his sandwich.

"That would be nice, you probably know more about this town that we do and know who to talk to and stuff." Anko said as she put Dango after Dango into her mouth.

_'Is that really how it looked like when I ate ramen when I was younger?'_ Naruto thought for himself as he stared at Anko.

Anko noticed Naruto staring at her, "What? You can't get enough of me? You know, you're a little too young for me, not that I care, but it would probably be better when you're 18." Anko said and put more dango into her mouth.

"What?!" Naruto shirked, "No!" Anko gave him a look, "I mean.. I.. STOP MESSING WITH ME HEAD WOMAN!" Anko just laughed and kept on eating dango.

Naruto sighed as he tried to keep what she had just said out of his mind. He then shook his head and bit his thumb before he made a few hand signs and then slammed his hand down to the ground. A smoke appeared and a frog appeared. One of the female waiters looked at the smoke and when she saw the frog she nearly jumped out of her skin. She had a terrified look on her face as she jumped into the lap of a man she was taking the orders of. "A-a-a-a a FROG!" The man seemed a little uncomfortable, probably because his wife was sitting across from him and he currently had a young waitress in his lap.

The frog looked at the girl and the girl tensed. "What's wrong girl? You seen something that scared you?"

Again the girl nearly jumped out of her skin. "I-i-i-i-t IT TALKED!" She screamed out.

"Of course I do girl, what frog doesn't?" and with that, the girl passed out. The girl went limp in the man's lap and she nearly fell to the ground, but he caught her. Gamakichi turned to Naruto and gave him a big smile. "How's it going Naruto? Haven't seen you in a while!"

Naruto laughed as Gamakichi gave him a high five. Well, not much since last time we talked, anyway, I have a job for you. Since you're small and all, could you see if you find any man strange and suspicious and then follow him and see what he is doing. If there is something, remember what he looks like and come straight back to me. Alright?"

"Got it, but wouldn't it be better with dogs? They're a lot better at tracking than us frogs you know." Gamakichi said.

"I know that, but I just happen to have a contract with you frogs and not with dogs. You might not have the same nose as dogs... Do you even have one?" Naruto asked quietly, "Anyway, you're small, and not many people would suspect a frog as small as you to be looking after suspicious people. Besides, I'm perfectly fine with frogs and wouldn't have it any other way, okay?" Naruto said and Gamakichi grinned.

"Right! Gamabunta-sama will be so honored when he hears the son of- I mean the student of Jiraya-sama said that! ah.. haha... ha.." Gamakichi ended with a uncomfortable laugh. Naruto gave him a confused look. "Alright, I'll go now! I'll come and find you if I find or see anything!" He said and started to jump out of the still broken door and down the road. Naruto shook his head again and stared at the still unconscious waitress.

"She is still out?" He asked the man that still held the poor girl. He just nodded and couldn't really do anything. Naruto took his glass of water and poured the water that was left in it over her face and she woke up, coughing slightly.

"Where's the frog?" She asked almost terrified.

"Oh, it's-" a person began but Naruto beat him to it.

"What frog?" Naruto asked as he looked at her comfused.

"The frog that just suddenly appeared in the smoke." She replied just as comfused.

"...What smoke?" Naruto asked, "If there had been any smoke in here.. We would smell it, and the only smoke here is the smoke from the kitchen where they make food.. And that doesn't even smell like smoke." No, you weren't allowed to smoke in this restaurant, how would Asuma survive?

"I.. eh..."

"That fear for frogs must really get the better of you. You're starting to see things that isn't even there.. Maybe it's time to meet your fear face on soon." Naruto said and she just nodded and went back to work.

Somehow, it had gotten really dark. This small city was right in the middle of a big forest, so if got dark very fast here. Suddenly Gamakichi appeared at the door. "Naruto! Come quick!" And after he said that, he jumped down the street again. Naruto immediately jumped out from his seat and within a blink of an eye he had ran out of the restaurant and after Gamakichi. Asuma, Kurenai, Gai and Anko looked at each other before realization hit them and thy too ran out of the restaurant right after Asuma had placed enough money to cover what they had ordered and enough tips. If they weren't ninja's, they would have lost Naruto a long time ago, but luckily they were ninja's, and they could feel his chakra. As they ran to the left they were met with a dead end. The alley was very dark and it didn't give them the best feelings. They could hear a female person cry and they tried to focus their eyes more and they saw Naruto take off his jacket from his waist and place it around her.

"No one's gonna hurt you, I promise. You're safe now." He said as she kept crying. He looked slightly to his right to where a male body was laying.

"H-he killed my little brother..." The woman said before she started to cry again. Naruto shut his eyes close and started to comfort the poor teenager.

* * *

..Yeah.. Sorry if this chapter was kind of crappy, but I thought it had been too long without an update, so I decided to put up what I had of this story. It was originally going to be a lot longer than this, but I decided to update now right before school starts. I'm not that sure when I will be able to update again, since school starts again and I have to work extra hard so I come at the same level as the other one's in my class, since I was sick last year and lost half of the school year. Please, check my channel for updates.. I know my channel is.. Kind of long, but I will place a update section in it so if anything happens, I'll write it there, alright? Please click on the button and review this chapter.


	9. Chapter 9

**The still living dream**

**A/N; **Sorry I haven't been able to update for a little while! I've been focusing on school to get back on track and at the same time my health isn't getting any better.

**83** reviews so far! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed!

**Thank you; **chickenman00712, Kaiser Spartan, Cloud Ex-SOLDIER,Shigyakuteki Hyousha**, **Sanz0girl, emilbootanimefreak**, **A3rrow**.**

* * *

The poor girl was shaking and crying. She couldn't be more than a few years older than Naruto himself, maybe 2 or 3 years older. Most girls, when they get used like that, they usually won't let a boy touch them, but still, she let Naruto hold her and comfort her. There just is something about Naruto that makes you feel safe, Kurenai figured.

Naruto had brought them all to where he was staying, at Mitsu's apartment. Naruto had carried her the whole way there, while Asuma and Gai took care of the body. They would be sure to make a funeral for the boy. When they finished and delivered the boy to the people who would take care of the body until the funeral. The girl had fallen asleep on the couch, still holding on to Naruto like her life depended on it. Naruto took a brown blanket from beside him and placed it around her, careful not to make any sudden movements or touch any places that could make her think everything was happening once again. The girl sighed and held on to Naruto even more. He swore that his shirt would rip apart soon, but he didn't do anything. The girl was already scared enough, and if she was forced to let go of him while she was asleep, she'd probably scream and wake up, thinking once again that it was the same man that killed her brother and raped her afterwards.

The girl barely had any clothes left when he arrived, the rapist and murderer had teared them off of her. He therefor went into Mitsu's room and found some of her clothes and asked the girl to put them on after she had cleaned up, after all there was blood all over her. But she didn't want to go anywhere alone, so she said she wouldn't shower unless someone was in the room with her in case the man came back after her. Naruto said he understood and went to ask Kurenai and Anko if they could come with her. Naruto went into the kitchen to make them some food and when they came out of the bathroom, the girl now fully clothed, fell to the couch and fell asleep, holding on to his shirt. It may be wrong to just walk into Mitsu's room like that, but he couldn't just let the girl stay like that. Besides, he knew Mitsu would understand. It's not like she was hiding anything either. She had told him that the most personal stuff was under her bed and nothing more.

"Poor girl.." Kurenai said, "To think that someone would do something like that to a teenage girl.." The girl started to shake slightly. "She must be having a nightmare." Kurenai said and Anko and Naruto nodded. When her shaking became worse and she started whimpering, Naruto started to stroke her back carefully. After a few minutes she little by little stopped shaking and it seemed like the nightmare vanished. Naruto still kept rubbing her back though, and this made Kurenai smile.

Someone knocked on the door and it woke the girl up instantly, scaring her. Naruto looked down at he and kept rubbing her back. "It's alright, It's probably just Asuma-sensei and Gai-sensei." He said and she nodded. "Here, you should eat something." He then said and pointed to the table where he had placed her food. She nodded and said a quiet 'thank you' before she started to eat her food.

Naruto watched as she ate her food, she ate slowly, as if she wanted to be ready if the man came back. Naruto placed his hand that was rubbing her back on her shoulder which made her look at him with some food hanging out of her mouth. Naruto gave a small smile and laughed lightly and the girl blushed and used her hand to take away the food. "I don't think we ever introduced ourselves. I'm Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto said and placed his hand in front of her. She looked at it for a while before taking it and looking up at his face.

"..I'm Ai Kane." She said and jumped in her seat when Asuma and Gai walked into the room. She placed her hand over her heart to try and calm herself. "S-sorry.."

"It's ok." Naruto said before looking at the 4 Jounin's.

"I'm Kurenai Yuuhi." Kurenai said with a smile before elbowing Anko.

"Anko Mitarashi." She said simply.

"Asuma Sarutobi."

"THE GREEN BEAST OF KONOHA! GAI MAITO!" Gai yelled and gave her his 'nice guy' pose.

Ai sweat drooped at his actions but smiled quickly afterwards. "I think I've heard about you, there's not many people looking like... you.." She said unsure, "How do you manage to wear such tight clothes?"

"Well, actually there a younger clone of him basically, his name is-"

"MY LOVELY STUDENT! ROCK LEE! I'M SURE YOU HAVE HEARD OF HIM, HE IS ONE OF THE GREATEST STUDENTS TO TEACH! OF COURSE, MY OTHER TWO STUDENTS, TENTEN AND NEJI ARE ALSO VERY TALENTED!" Gai said with enthusiasm in his voice. "THESE ARE THE MOST COMFORTABLE CLOTHES I'VE EVER WORN, AND LEE TOOK AFTER ME AND USE HIS OWN PAIR OF THIS WONDERFUL CLOTHING!"

"..Come to think of it, Naruto, didn't Gai give you a pair as well?" Asuma asked as he took out a cigarette and was about to lit it but Kurenai slapped his hand away.

"You don't smoke inside of other people's house like that! Go outside!" She said before she pushed him towards the balcony.

Asuma sighed and let his head fall down with a sigh. It was pretty cold outside.. But he wanted to smoke his cigarette! He then smiled, _'To think that I don't even really have a problem with her pushing me around like this...'_ Asuma thought with a smile as he opened the door and walked out on the balcony and looked up into the sky._ 'I guess this is like being in love..'_

Ai shivered and Naruto placed a black blanked around her. She looked up at him and smiled, "Thank you.."

"We'll have to ask you some questions later, alright? We need to catch that guy.." Naruto said and he could see that she stiffened and started to shake slightly. She was probably replying what happened in her head. Naruto sighed. "But right now you need to eat and get your mind straight. I know that is hard, but we'll need to know every single detail of what happened and what he looked like.. Think you can do that?" Naruto asked quietly. She managed to calm herself and gave him a nod. Naruto smiled and started rubbing her back again.

Kurenai turned to Anko and they shared a look. How could anyone think that Naruto was the Kyuubi himself? He was so nice and caring, something you didn't see in a lot of guys. But with Naruto's childhood, it didn't really shock them that much. Naruto treated others the way he wanted others to treat him; With respect. It was a miracle that he didn't turn out like Gaara did though. But that reason was probably that he had a dream and a goal he wanted to reach. Now that he was banished though, what happened to that dream?

Asuma walked back into the room and saw Naruto rubbing Ai's back. _'OH! __LAIDIES MAN__!'_ He immediately thought. He got this stupid grin on his face which caused him to get confused looks from everyone in the room. He nearly hit himself before he put on a straight face, pretending like that look never appeared. _'Damn it Kakashi!'_

Not that he though anything inappropriate about them, the girl had just been raped after all, but man was he _smooth__**!**_

"T-this w-was really good... By the way." Ai said as she took another bite of her food followed by drinking from her glass.

_'Oooh! A compliment!... __**ARGH!**__'_ Asuma thought again... He thought...

"What's wrong with you?!" Anko yelled at him. Asuma gave her a comfused look. "Why were you yelling?!"

"..What?" Asuma asked even more comfused than he already was.

...

He didn't yell out loud... right?

"Asuma! What is bothering you my friend?" Gai asked, and was actually not yelling.

Asuma looked at everybody in the room before he sighed and shook his head. Maybe he did yell out loud...

* * *

"Hello?" Mitsu said as she walked through the door of her own home. She guessed that Naruto was already inside, since it had gotten pretty late right now.

"Hi!" Naruto yelled from the living room. Mitsu laughed and took off her shoes before she walked around the corner and saw Naruto sitting on the couch, along with 5 complete strangers to her, but she guessed they were friends of him.. Why would they be doing there if they weren't?

"Oh, hello. I'm Mitsu." She said with a smile and placed her hand in front of the closest person, which just happened to be Gai.

"YOUR YOUTH SHINES BRIGHTLY INSIDE OF YOU! MY NAME IS GAI MAITO, THE GREEN BEA-" Anko whacked him on top of his head.

"Just your name is enough!" Anko yelled.

Mitsu stared at them for a minute, before her eyes lit up somewhat. "Oh, aren't you Naruto's friends from Konoha? Weren't you at the restaurant earlier today?" She asked.

"Well, technically they were my sensei's, but.."

Mitsu looked at him and noticed Ai, who was once again asleep. She looked at her for a few seconds before looking at Naruto. Naruto followed her eyes and then looked back at her. "I didn't look at your personal stuff, I promise, but she needed a change of clothes.. So I took the first things I found.. Sorry for going through your stuff though.."

Mitsu smiled and waved her hand. "It's alright. I'm guessing something happened to her.. Is she okay?"

"She was a victim of a raper we are currently trying to hunt down. We are just waiting for her to get rested and get her mind straight before we ask any questions." Kurenai explained.

Mitsu looked shocked. "She was raped?" She asked in a quiet voice. Everybody nodded at her. "Poor girl.."

"Nothing happened to you while you went home, right?" Naruto suddenly asked alarmed.

Mitsu looked at him confused. "No.. Why?"

Naruto sighed with relief. At least nothing happened to her. "He.. raped.. Ai here just as it got dark.. and since you finish your work this late at night, as many people do, he might pick someone who goes home from work at this hour..From now on, **I'm** picking you up from work, alright?" Naruto said.

"We should probably tell the other workers to not go alone home at night until we have caught this guy. That way we can make sure more people are safe." Asuma suggested and the others nodded. He then looked at the clock and then at Ai. "Well, we should probably go and get a room at a hotel somewhere, it's getting really late and it seems like she isn't going to wake up until tomorrow."

"What? You're not going to pay for a hotel room. You can all sleep here. I have plenty of room!" Mitsu said and placed her hands on her hips.

"Are you sure? We could just get a room at a hot-"

"No, you're staying. I'm not gonna have you guys have to pay to sleep here. I have enough room, but I only have three beds left, since Naruto's here.. and she.."

"Ai."

"Ai will probably have her own bed because of what just happened. Two of you will probably have to share the two double beds.. you can choose who's gonna share yourselves, since that's not really none of my business."

* * *

"Alright, now we need you to describe the man. What happened, what did he look like, what kind of clothes did he wear, how strong was he, how was his voice, were there any accents in his voice.. Just tell us everything you can remember alright?"

Ai nodded and began to talk..

_**Flashback.**_

_Ai was at a club. Not a bar, but it was allowed to drink there. She herself didn't drink anything, but nearly everybody else was. Her boyfriend had broken up with her a month ago, and she never really got over him. So now she decided to go to a club and see if she saw or met any nice people so she could get him off of her mind. Her younger brother was at a friends house and she was going to pick him up when she was going home._

_She had gotten a coke, since she didn't drink and sat down at a empty table. The room was dark except for the flashing lights that was on. That was the only way you could see anybodies face, or you had to be very close to see it. There had been a few attractive looking guys in the club, but she hadn't gone and talked to them yet. What she really wanted was to them to come to her. That way she knew they were interested. Suddenly a guy sat down at her table and to tell the truth.. he was drop dead gorgeous!_

"_Hey." He said and gave her a breathtaking smile. He looked to be around 20 years old, and herself being 16 going at 17, she didn't think that was that much of an age difference. He had brown-blondish hair, brown eyes, and he was nearly 2 heads taller then her. She had to admit, she was short.. but damn! He was tall! _

"_Hey." She said back with a smile of her own. She looked over his clothes. He wore a brown sleeveless shirt and a pair of blank baggy pants along with black shoes. He was VERY well built, his arms had the perfect amount of muscles, and you could see his six-pack through his tight shirt. _

_He reached his hand out, "Wanna dance?" He asked. She thought he was going to introduce himself, but didn't really think much about that as she took his hand and let him lead her to the middle of the dance floor. So many people was dancing that they were pushed pretty close but they weren't touching. As they danced through the first couple of songs they talked lightly to each other, but at the same time the space between them got smaller and smaller. She didn't mind much though._

"_You're a pretty good dancer." Ai complimented. "There's not many guys that dance as good as you." She said and took a quick moment to look around her. People were falling off and over chairs and tables, some thought they were the best dancers in the world when reality was that they pretty much sucked. _

_Her dance partner looked around as well and chuckled. "You're a pretty good dancer yourself." he said with a smile and placed his hand at the middle of her back and pulled her closer to him until their bodies were completely touching. Again, Ai didn't really mind much. She felt comfortable with this guy. She smiled and placed her hands around his neck and smiled back. They kept on dancing until a new song came on. Suddenly the guys hands started to wander slightly. She didn't mind as long as his hands didn't wander to any inappropriate places. So she didn't say anything. His hands hadn't gone anywhere else than on her back and her hips so she had just smiled at him. _

_But then things started to get a little out of control. Before she could say anything, his hand slided down her side and when she felt his hand move under her dress she placed her own hands on top of his to stop him and then she pulled away._

_He looked at her, "Too much?" He asked and she nodded slightly. "Sorry, I lost control for a second." He apologized. She looked at him then looked at the clock at the wall._

"_I have to go.." She started to walk out of the crowd, and when she looked back she saw that he had already started to dance with some other girl. She shook her head. He wasn't worth it. _

_When she exited the club she started to walk down the street. As she passed a group of people, probably 5 people or so, she could feel their eyes on her. She started to walk a little faster as she heard one of them telling the others to go home. She let out a sigh of relief when she arrived at her younger brother's friend's house. She knocked on the door and after a few minutes an older woman opened the door and smiled at her._

"_Ai, it's so good to see you! How are you doing? I heard you and your boyfriend broke up a little while ago, I'm so sorry." She said and gave her a hug._

_Ai gave her a sad smile, "It's good to see you too. I'm doing a little better, I just need to get him off of my mind."_

"_I can see that. Well, I'll go get your brother." She said and yelled to the two boys that she was here to pick him up. Her younger brother came to view and said goodbye to his friend before following his older sister through the streets._

_Suddenly a man came up to them. He smiled wickedly at her and Ai could feel herself getting creped out. Ai took a deep breath, all she wanted to do was to get home and go to sleep. "Excuse me, could you move?" She asked as he blocked their way. The man just stared right into her eyes.. His eyes.. they were yellow..._

_She didn't know why, but she grabbed her younger brother's hand and started running. She ran past a restaurant where there was some people and immediately regretted doing so, if she was around more people no one would try anything. She continued to run and then ran around a corner. She then realized they ran into a dead end. She turned around and looked straight into the same yellow eyes. She gripped her younger brothers hand tighter as she felt her heart beat faster. _

"_Looks like you ran into a dead end, huh?" The man said with a scary grin on his face. _

"_Stay away from my sister you freak!" Her younger brother yelled and let go of her hand before standing in front of her. The man started laughing like a maniac before he pulled out a sword. He then ran forwards and stabbed the boy in the chest. Ai yelled, but before she managed to run forward the man had already cut the boy so badly that he fell to the ground. He had even slit his throat. _

_Ai could feel hot tears run down her face and hit the ground, but she couldn't manage to say anything. Her younger brother, the only relative she had left had just been killed in front of her eyes. The man placed his sword back to it's protector and looked up at Ai. His eyes met hers once again and he began to walk towards her. She felt herself getting pushed up against the wall, and then pain._

_**End Flashback**_

Ai felt tears come to her eyes as she replayed what had happened. "Then he left right before you came." She took a deep breath.

"What did he look like?" Anko asked.

"He looked like he was about in his mid thirties.. H-he had short and black hair, about as tall as you," She said and pointed at Asuma, "he didn't have a beard or a mustache, but he had.."

The others waited as she swallowed and took a deep breath, "He had yellow eyes.. His eyes.. They showed hate and.. he just looked evil."

"Alright, that's god. You're giving us important information. How was his body built, what did he wear, did you see any other weapons than the sword?" Kurenai said, as all of them were memorizing everything she said.

"Well... He looked very built, he was tall and powerful.. He pushed me against the wall like I was a feather. He was pretty much having the body of someone who has been training Taijutsu his whole life. He wore very dark clothes and they were also very baggy. He also had this huge cloak that covered his entire body. He might have more weapons under it, because he pulled his sword out of there... But he cut me with some kind of knife... I've seen many different people, mainly ninja's that has them." Ai said and looked down as tear began to fall. She closed her eyes tight, trying to stop all the memories to come back. She put her head into her hands and began to cry.

"It's okay, there's not really anything more to ask you about, unless you remember something you think we should know?" Kurenai said and sat down at the other side of Ai, placed a blanket around her and pulled her into a hug.

After a hour or so, Asuma, Kurenai, Anko and Gai had gone out to look after the man while Naruto brought Ai to the restaurant to get something to eat. But before they got there, Ai stopped and grabbed Naruto's arm like her life depended on it. Naruto stopped and looked at her with curiosity, but when he saw her staring right forward, he looked in the direction she was looking. "I-i-i-It's him...!" She whispered.

"YOU SICK BASTARD!"

* * *

Again, sorry for the late chapter. I know some people might be a little out of character, but Naruto is just sensitive, Asuma has been WAY too much around Kakashi and Kurenai is showing her soft side.

Hope you enjoyed it!


	10. Chapter 10 REWRITE!

The Still Living Dream

**A/N;** **REWRITE!!** **I wrote a little on the fight scene, also, I wrote a lot more.** Also, I made a one shot called Second Love; Sakura edition. It's the first edition of a series of one shots I will be doing. I will do these when I have a writers block or when I get an idea that slows either my homework or my story writing down. You can give me requests in a review to that story. I've been asked if I could do a HinataShino pairing.. I originally was going to do KibaHina, but if enough people ask for a ShinoHina, I'll do it. Please read and review:)

OMG.. I had so much trouble with internet and my email.. and then, school, with test's that everyone but me knew about.. And tomorrow (Friday) I'm leaving on this confirmation trip with my Christian confirmation group and will be gone until Sunday.. sigh..

Thank you; Kaiser Spartan, Gravenimage, davethedark, Tsukia13, chickenman00712, Hawkgirl90, Cloud Ex-SOLDIER.

Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto or any of the characters. There is only a few characters in my story that I own. (Mitsu, Ai ect.)

* * *

A loud explosion was heard and smoke covered the whole street. Naruto had been so pissed he hit the man all the way from the street and over to a field. "HOW DARE YOU!" Naruto yelled as he held the man down to the ground and grabbed his collar. The man just looked at him before there was a blinding light and he was gone. Naruto looked around, _'What the...'_ Suddenly someone grabbed him from behind and placed a sword at his throat.

"What do you want you brat?!" The man yelled as he pushed the blade of his sword harder against Naruto's throat.

"What do you think you are doing?! Hurting people like you do!" Naruto yelled back at him.

The man growled, "You've made me pissed, now DIE!" He said and slit Naruto's throat...

And then there was a puff of smoke. _'Dammit!'_ the man yelled in his head._ 'He knows the Kage Bunshin?!'_

Naruto watched him from a tree nearby. _'He didn't expect me to know the Kage Bunshin, that's oblivious... He's underestimating me, I better take this to my advantage.'_

The man then threw 5 shurikens right where Naruto was watching him, making him jump out of the tree and landed at the ground facing him. The man glared at him. Naruto couldn't even see him make signs before he yelled out a name of a jutsu he hadn't heard of. Suddenly there was a gush of wind and then trees and huge rocks went up into the air. It became a tornado, and having things like rocks and trees in it didn't make it any better. Naruto tried to jump backwards and away from the tornado that seemed to come faster and faster towards him. He attempted to jump further backwards but he tripped and fell. He groaned and picked himself up and saw the tornado wasn't that far away from him. With the help of his own chakra he was able to keep his feet on the ground, but his upper body kept getting hit by the enormous gush with wind. He then thought back to his training with Jiraya.

"Fuuton: Daitoppa!" Naruto yelled and the rocks and the trees in the tornado came rushing back towards the man.

His eyes widened as he got hit by his own technique. He was thrown back against a rock wall and he slid down to the ground. For a little while he didn't move, but then he started to get up. "Dammit.." He said as he used his hand to wipe away blood from the corner of his mouth. When he was standing steadily on his feet, he didn't move.

Naruto was waiting for him to make the next move, but couldn't understand why he wasn't moving. _'Why isn't he moving?'_ The man smirked and closed his eyes. _'This is my chance!'_ Naruto thought and ran towards him with a kunai in his hand. Naruto readied the kunai for impact in his chest, but the man simply lifted his hand and let the kunai pierce deep into it. Naruto's eyes widened. The man didn't even seem to feel any pain.

"Who do you think you are?" The man asked Naruto and used his other hand to punch him in his stomach, making him fly backwards. He quickly used his right hand to connect with the ground and flip him up to his feet and looked at the man. "I'm busy you squirt!"

"Busy finding women and raping them!?" Naruto yelled, he was getting beyond pissed at this man. He could feel his anger boiling.

"I don't know what you're talking about." The man said and pulled the kunai out of his hand. He then placed his other hand above it and a green light became visible.

_'He knows medical jutsu.. This may be a little difficult. If I show him any of my weaknesses he'll easily take advantage of it.'_ Naruto thought. _'I need to hit him somewhere so he can heal himself.'_

The man smirked again and began to make hand signs. "Kasumi Juusha no Jutsu." He said quietly and jumped into a nearby tree. Naruto was about to follow him when he remembered the technique.

"This technique.. It's the Mist servant technique!" Naruto said to himself and his thoughts were proved right as many copies of the man came up from the ground. "Crap."

The clones threw different objects at him. Some kunai, shuriken, even regular knifes. Naruto tried to dodge all of them, but some hit him, but seemed to actually be a Genjutsu as well. Naruto then felt a horrible pain in his thigh. He looked down to see three shurikens in his thigh with blood coming out of the wounds they made. Naruto cursed under his breath. He was off somewhere throwing the real weapons. He could also have made Kage Bunshin's that also threw weapons at him. Naruto quickly took the shurikens out of his thigh and threw them at three different directions. He heard two of them hit wood, but one seemed to hit something a little softer. The ground? He hear a poof. _A clone._

Naruto kicked, hit and sliced the Genjutsu clones that came towards him. If only he had a little time, he could dispel the Genjutsu. Naruto made three clones and made the three of them throw him into the air. "KAI!" He yelled and the Genjutsu was dispelled. He he was falling towards the ground he saw two people, the man and probably another clone, or maybe they were both clones, he didn't know for sure. He threw a kunai at them both and saw the one to his right disappear while the other fell to the ground. When Naruto walked over to the body it was replaced with a log. "Dammit!"

"Mind your own business, kid!" He heard a voice from behind. "I do whatever I will!"

"Why are you raping those women!?" Naruto yelled at him again, getting madder qnd madder with each second.

"Payback! I got my heart crushed! Now I'm crushing theirs! You're gonna die just like all the others! WOMEN AND MEN!" Naruto turned around to show blood red eyes with black slits on them. The man stopped and looked at him. "W-what are you?" He asked, slightly shocked.

"You..." Naruto began. He could feel the fox start to take control over him but he couldn't stop it. He _wouldn't_ stop it. As much as he knew the fox could do much more damage then just at that bastard, he didn't seem to care, and that scared him.

Was he actually turning into the monster the Kyuubi is?

"Answer me you freak!" The man yelled again, terrified.

"I'm..." Naruto began but Naruto's world started to get black. He shook his head, opened his eyes and ran straight on the man. The man didn't seem to dare to move. Naruto smirked. "DIE!" Was the last thing Naruto yelled, before he saw the man take his sword out of his coat. Naruto's mind went black...

* * *

The four Jounin's arrived at the scene. Anko looked around and saw a dead man's body on the ground, "Well would you look at that, we lost all the fun!"

"Anko, this is serious." Asuma said and looked at the dead man's body from where he was standing. He was leaning his back into a building where the walls were made of stone.

"Geez, I know that, but I would like to give him some piece of my mind! He didn't leave any fun to me!" Anko complained and stared at the man, "But damn.. He did some serious killing on that guy.."

"Where is he anyway?" Kurenai asked and Gai looked around and shook his head.

"We'll have to find him. Anko, Gai, take the body, Kurenai, we'll look after..." Asuma stopped as he saw new blood dripping onto the ground. Kurenai followed his stare and then looked up from where the blood was coming from.

"Oh god..." She said as she looked at Naruto's bloody body pierced into the stone wall with a sword in his chest/stomach, making him stay at the wall.

* * *

Naruto slowly came to consciousness and opened his eyes.. He felt an unbearable pain in his stomach/chest and slowly looked down to see a sword pierced into him and out his back and into a stone wall. He took a deep breath even though it hurt like hell and placed his hands at the sword and pulled it out with the chakra he had left. He immediately began to fall to the ground, but he was caught.

"What the hell happened to you!?" he heard a women yell, Anko's voice. He opened his eyes even though it was almost too painful and looked at both Kurenai and Asuma.

"Anko!" Gai scolded. He heard her mutter a 'what?' and Naruto laughed inside,- It would hurt even more.

"He's bleeding too much." Asuma said and placed a piece of cloth on Naruto's wound and added pressure on it with his hands. The cloth became blood strained at once and Kurenai gave him another piece of cloth which he placed on top of it and added even more pressure. That one also became red because of all the blood after a few seconds.

"If this keeps going he'll lose too much blood." He heard Kurenai say. "Asuma, remove the cloths."

Asuma looked at her as if she was crazy. "What?"

"REMOVE THE CLOTHS! Then add pressure with your bare hands!" Kurenai said. She got a look from Asuma and gave one back, "Just do it!"

Asuma quickly removed the cloths and placed his hands over his wound again. Naruto became fainter and fainter. "What are you planning woman?!" Asuma nearly yelled at her.

Kurenai didn't say anything but placed her own hands above Asuma's and they began to glow faint green. "Just keep the pressure on." Kurenai said as she concentrated.

"You know medical jutsu?" Asuma asked her as he watched her concentrate.

"I have to, Kiba gets hurt too much. Hinata is the one who'll become the medic on the team though. But it's in situations like this that it's helpful to know a little medical jutsu." Kurenai said and focused all of her chakra to her hands. The bleeding started to slow down. "Even though the bleeding is stopping up, do not let go of the pressure, we'll have to take the pressure off slowly." She said. Naruto then fell unconscious again because of all the pain.

* * *

_'What happened to me?'_

**'You're so stupid kid.'**

_'Who is that?'_

**'As if you truly do not know who I am.'** A figure became clearer and clearer and Naruto soon saw himself standing outside of a cage. He looked even harder and spotted two eyes looking at him. Naruto's eyes widened. He hadn't come this close to the fox in a very long time. **'What?'**

_'...You have something in your teeth...'_

**'Ah.. Yes, I actually ate a few people in my life..'**

_'.. Why am I here?' _

**'You nearly lost the fight. I stepped in.' He said simply.**

_'WHAT?!'_

**'Hey! I saved your life kid!'**

_'Why does my body hurt all over?' _

**'You got a sword through your body, remember?'**

_'Oh..' _

**'Yeah, oh.'**

_'What.. Did I win?' _

**'I won, you were out.' Naruto gave the Kyuubi a look, he wasn't really scared of him anymore. He had learned how to handle him. 'Kid, you do realize you're dying right now?'**

Naruto's eyes widened, _'WHAT!?' _

**'Yes, you're dying. That black haired and red eyed chick managed to stop the bleeding, but you've lost too much blood.'**

_'Well.. Do something about it!'_

**'I can't'**

_'You can't? If I die, you die.' _Naruto said in a matter of fact way.

**'Ah, you're right there... Get out of here, you're making my headache grow worse!'**

_'I'm only here because you still haven't healed me, you're making your own headache.'_

**'ALRIGHT! Geez! You're too much trouble kid..'**

* * *

"Hey! He's waking up!" Naruto heard faint voices say.

"Quick! Get some water!" He heard another voice tell someone.

Naruto struggled to open his eyes and when he did, everything was blurry. After a lot of focusing, he was able to make people out of the blurry figures. "Naruto.. Are you alright?" Mitsu asked and sat down next to him with a wet cloth and was about to place it on his forehead.

'What.. What happened..' He thought first but he suddenly remembered everything. His eyes widened and he sat up faster then he should have. "Wha-"He said before he realized the pain in his stomach. He placed his right hand over where it hurt and saw that he got blood on his hand.

"Wow, take it easy! You have already opened your wound again." Asuma said and placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto was sweating and panting because of the pain he felt.

"Here, Naruto, have some water." Mitsu said and placed a cup of water up to his lips. Naruto drank from it and Mitsu helped him lay down again.

"T-thanks.." He said and placed his head back down on his pillow. He moved his left arm up to his face and wiped his face before he just let his arm lay over his eyes. He took a deep breath and took away his arm. He looked around in the room. It seemed like he had been moved back to Mitsu's house and his room. He then noticed the faces of Mitsu, Ai, Gai, Anko, Kurenai, Asuma, Hana and her mother, Kumi, Bob and some of the other waitresses from the restaurant. Naruto raised an eyebrow, "How long have I been out?"

"For about 3 days." Mitsu said and placed the wet cloth back on his forehead.

"5 DAYS!?" He yelled and sat up, making the cloth fall off of his forehead again.

"LAY DOWN!" Everybody yelled at him. He winced and laid down again.

Mitsu placed the cloth back on his forehead once again and threatened him with gluing it on his forehead if he didn't lay still. Naruto looked at Ai, "Are you okay?"

Ai nodded, "Yeah.. I just got a little scared... What happened to you? You became... almost like.. an animal.." Everyone that knew the truth about Naruto became very quiet and looked either down on the ground or anywhere besides at Ai. "Please? It was pretty scary... Are you sure you're okay?"

Naruto sighed. He knew that Ai was shaken already and didn't want her to be scared of him as well. "..I'm fine.. I just.. I don't think this is the right time to tell you, when you're in the state that you are in."

Ai gave him a look and placed her hands on her hips. "Really? Well, what if-"

"Ai, please, just listen to him." Mitsu laid a hand on her shoulder and said.

Ai sighed, "Alright.. But promise me you'll tell me someday.. alright?"

"I.." Naruto began. He couldn't promise to tell her something that he shouldn't have told anyone. Later, when everybody was okay with Jinchuuriki maybe, but now.. With Akatsuki and all the wars.. it was just too risky. "When I can see that you're ready to hear it I promise I will tell you.." Naruto said and Ai smiled at him, "When the time is right.." He added quietly.

"It's amazing how fast you heal, Naruto-kun. You had burns pretty much all over your body, and you have healed most of it by yourself without any help." Hana's mother said.

"Aha... Well, you know what they say..." Naruto began, actually trying to figure out what people say in these situations. "When you want something really bad.. It happens.." 'Man, that was lame..'

"Right!" Hana said with a huge smile on her face. "I wanna be a ninja someday, and that WILL happen!" She said and looked up at her mother.

Naruto smiled at her. She had big dreams, and she reminded him a little about himself. Her mother didn't like they idea of her wanting to become a ninja, and had always tried to get her to like other things, but since she never changed her mind, her mother actually agreed to move to a village and send her to a ninja academy when she turns 11. "Hey, thanks for healing me, by the way. Since when did you know medical jutsu?" Naruto asked and turned to look at Kurenai.

"No problem. I've know for a few years now. Kiba gets hurt too much, both on and off missions. Hinata is the one who has the talent to become a medic on my team though. I only had the ability to learn how to heal bruises and stop small bleedings. Your bleeding was a challenge though."

"Hah, Kiba still has a attitude, huh?" Naruto asked with a laugh.

"He actually started to take things more seriously after he figured out that you were.. not in the village anymore.." Kurenai said. "But he has his moments."

Naruto laughed, "How is the rest of the team? And everyone else?"

"Hinata is making progress in both confidence, Taijutsu, Ninjutsu and medical jutsu. She has great chakra control but doesn't have the most amount of chakra. Shino is the same, but has also improved greatly and he has also reached Chuunin level."

"Everyone on my team are improving as well, Shikamaru still has the brains, Chouji still eat chips and Ino is still working in the flower store." Asuma said and laughed, "But they have improved greatly as well. All of them are learning techniques that they normally wouldn't learn this early because of their bloodline. Ino is the one on my team that has become a Chuunin, though Chouji would have become a Chuunin as well if he hadn't gotten that hurt in one of the fights, but that just showed that he still had a little left to being ready for Chuunin level."

"MY STUDENTS ARE DOING GREAT!!" Gai yelled proudly, "Lady Tsunade has promoted Lee, TenTen and Neji to Chuunin!"

"Really?" Naruto asked and Gai nodded his head with a huge grin on his face. "Wow.. That sounds great! Do you know how Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan is?"

"Kakashi isn't the same after you left, but yet, he is the same. It's just something about him that makes you feel that he is still the same." Kurenai said.

"Is he still reading Ero-sennin's books?" Naruto asked.

Kurenai had a vein pop up on her forehead. "Yes... yes he does.."

"Ah.. Then there's not that much to worry about. It's when he actually stops reading the book that you should be worried." Naruto said in a 'matter of fact' voice.

"I can't believe so many people read his books.. They're so perverted." Mitsu said and shook her head.

"Ah, you'll have to read them a few times before you start to like them." Anko said. Kurenai looked at her.'

"You've read the books?"

"Yeah.. When you're away on a 2 month mission with him alone, his habit's rub on to you." Anko said.

"No really.." Asuma whispered.

"What?" Kurenai asked and eyed him.

"Nothing!"

"I'm actually borrowing some of his books.. I forgot to take them with me though.." Anko began again.

"How's Sakura-chan? And Baa-chan and Ero-sennin? And Iruka-sensei? And Konohamaru..." Naruto asked. "How's everyone?"

"Sakura's medical skills is improving with great speed. She has healed Kiba two times and Asuma once.." When Kurenai said that, Asuma sat down and placed a hand on his forehead, "She's also one of the three youngest medics to ever work on the hospital. The two others was Shizune and a girl named Rin. She was on Kakashi's team before she died."

"That's great!" Naruto exclaimed and quickly placed his hand on his covered wound again. "Ouch.."

"Haha, take it easy!" Asuma said. "Konohamaru is in Iruka's class and he's taking things a lot more seriously. When I asked him about why he trained so hard every day he said it was to be able to beat you when you come back." Naruto smiled at that. "Iruka's helping him as much as he can. I think he can see a lot of you in him... But Konohamaru can be as complicated as you sometimes."

Naruto looked at him shocked, "I was NEVER complicated!" He got a look from everyone in the room. "I just happen to be a little different!" They shared a good laugh.

"Well, we'll have to leave soon. Our deadline is soon up." Kurenai said and looked at the calendar. "It takes some time to get back to Konoha as well."

Naruto nodded. "How long time did you get to get the mission finished?" He asked.

"About two weeks." Anko said as she chewed on the dango Mitsu had made her. "Man these are good!"

"Thank you." Mitsu said and smiled at her and bowing slightly.

"I wish I could cook like that.. I'll have to train on making dango! My own dango.. Man, that would be nice!" Anko thought out loud.

"Would you like to have the recipe?" Mitsu asked.

"Yes!" Anko yelled and stuffed the last dango into her mouth.

As said, Kurenai, Asuma, Gai and Anko leaved a few days later to make it back in time. But before that they went to Ai's younger brothers funeral, where tears was shred, sobs was heard and sympathetic looks given.

* * *

"Tsunade-Sama." Shizune said and walked into the office. Tsunade looked up. "Asuma and his team is back from their mission." Shizune said and Tsunade raised an eyebrow. It was a day before deadline.

"Send them in." Tsunade said and Shizune nodded and walked out. After a few seconds, Asuma, Kurenai, Anko and Gai came into the room.

"Reporting in, Tsunade-sama." Asuma said.

"Good. You may begin." Tsunade said and placed her elbows on her desk and rested her head on top of her hands.

"First off, the mission was a success. The man, identified as Kiyoshi Mamoru, was the one who was the raper. During the fight, he was torn to shreds, there was basically nothing to bring back, besides his blood and DNA. We brought back blood samples and hair, as well as a piece of clothing of the man, and gave them to Shizune. She's probably doing the check now." Asuma said. "Sadly, before he was stopped, he got another victim; a teenage girl, probably around 16 or 17 years old. She was raped and he also killed her younger brother in front of her."

"Is this girl okay?" Tsunade asked.

"Well, she didn't get either pregnant or any big wounds that could kill her. She got bruises and her mind was affected badly. Naruto's taking care of her for the time being." Asuma said.

"Alright, that's goo- Naruto?" Tsunade asked, her eyes wide with shock. "He was there?"

Kurenai stepped in. "Yes, when we went to this restaurant, he came literally flying into the room through the door. He had gotten into a fight with a few members of a gang he apparently had fought with before. Kiyoshi Mamoru was the new leader of this gang. After he had fought them, he asked if he could help us, and we let him. He sent out a frog and sent it to look after anything out of the ordinary." Kurenai said and Tsunade nodded, still shocked over the fact that they had met Naruto. "The frog came back after a little while and Naruto followed. We also followed and when we found him Naruto was placing his jacket around the girl, she had been raped by the raper, and made sure that she was okay. Sadly, we didn't manage to catch the raper, he had gone before we came there, but the frog had seen the whole thing happening." Tsunade nodded her head slowly and smile slightly when she heard about Naruto's actions.

"She was traumatized and was very jumpy when there were sudden movements, people she didn't know came close to her and she got nightmares easily, though she seemed to feel very safe around Naruto. Almost as if she thought of him as her savior." Asuma explained.

"I see.. Keep going." Tsunade said.

"We let her rest and take it easy for a night before we asked her about the man, what had happened that night, what kind of weapons he had and so on. She explained very well but eventually had a hard time to keep herself from crying." Kurenai said. "With the new information, we went looking after the man. The next day, Naruto brought the girl, Ai, out to go to the restaurant where the young woman who was kind enough to let us stay there along with herself and Naruto worked to get something to eat, while we were still looking for the raper."

"We can't really give you that much information about the fight, because Naruto was basically the one fighting it." Anko said.

"He was the one fighting?!" Tsunade asked a little angry, "Where the hell were you?!" Tsunade let her anger and concern about Naruto get the better of her for a while.

"We were on the other side of the town. We knew the man was strong, and that we should move as a group and rather have the search a little slower." Asuma explained.

Tsunade nodded. "Was Naruto the one who killed him?"

"..By the looks of it.. yes." Asuma began.

"Apparently, Ai recognized the man on their way to the restaurant, and Naruto lost it and attacked him. After that, Naruto said that he confessed that he was the serial raper, saying it was because of revenge. Payback to the girl who crushed his heart. Her apparently being the first victim who he also killed. After that, Naruto told us that everything he could remember, was that everything turned black.. Which means.."

"That he went into Kyuubi mode.." Tsunade finished.

"His body got hurt pretty bad during the fight. But as we actually got to the scene, we saw Kiyoshi shred to many pieces, with Naruto nowhere to be found.. But.." Kurenai started but stopped. She knew that Tsunade looked at Naruto as a grandson, son or even a brother.

"We saw blood dripping down from above." Gai began, deciding that he should take over for Kurenai and Asuma. "When we looked up, Naruto was pierced into a the stone wall next to us with a sword through his stomach/chest it was a vital point." Gai said and he could see Tsunade's breath get stuck in her throat. "Somehow though, he seemed to get back to himself. It is pretty hard to imagen how he was pierced into the wall in the first place since the man was found in shreds, but my guess is that they were in front of each other, making both of them to strike at the same time. This must have happen just before we came there, because Naruto actually seemed to be slightly away when we saw him. His skin had burns and obviously the wound from the sword. Somehow, he had enough strength to actually pull the sword out, making him fall to the ground, where Kurenai used the medical jutsu she knew to stop the bleeding and recover some of the organs slightly. During this, he fell into coma for about 5 days. He woke up though, and we stayed until we were sure that he could walk without feeling any pain. The Kyuubi seemed to heal him pretty fast."

Tsunade stared at him. Not only could she believe that all of this happened to Naruto, but also the fact that Gai said ALL of that without yelling and saying something about youth...

"HIS YOUTH SHINES BRIGHTLY IN HIM!" Gai yelled and shred a tear. Ah, there the yelling was.

"I see, so you're positive that he is okay, the girl as well?" Tsunade asked and they all nodded. "That is very good."

"He asked a lot about how everyone was. He seemed to really miss being here." Anko said as she looked down at the recipe Mitsu had given her.

Tsunade sighed. She had never forgiven herself of letting that happening. "How is he?" Tsunade asked.

"Oh! He's fine! He's reached puberty!" Anko exclaimed with a grin on her face. Tsunade raised her eyebrow..

Exactly _what_ did that grin mean..?

* * *

Alright! Please tell me how you liked the rewrite! Was it good? I know I need practice in writing fight scenes, (Which is why I didn't write anything after Naruto lost control of the Kyuubi.) If you have any suggestions on how I can improve, please tell me in a review. Which leads me to; Please review!:P


	11. Chapter 11

The still living dream

**A/N;** I've waited to write this chapter for SO long! Ahh! Finally!xD Anyway! We've reached 100 reviews! Thank you to everyone that has reviewed, and keep doing it. I have a feeling you guys will like this chapter...! There's a pretty big time skip here, but don't worry, there will be flashbacks of those years!

**Thank you;** Gravenimage, Emperor Sasuke, Kaiser Spartan, Hawkgirl90, Cloud Ex-SOLDIER, NejiTenSasuSaku4eva, Darth Luffy, chickenman00712, Mr.Max

**Disclaimer;** I do not own Naruto or the characters from the series, though some characters in this story are mine. I do not own the Rush hour three scenes/bloopers I use in this chapter either.

-.-.-...-.-

**4 years later.**

"There! That should do it." Sakura said as she wrapped the broken arm with a bandage.

"Is it going to be okay for the Chuunin exam's?" The young Genin asked her.

Sakura smiled, "Yes, it will, but that means no more training before you go into the physical part of the exam, alright?" She said and placed the rest of the bandage down. "The Chuunin exam's are only three days away, so the best thing for you now is to rest, eat properly, and do not take too many pain killers. Alright?" Sakura said and gave him a warm and kind smile.

"Thank you!" The boys said, and after hesitating a little he gave her a quick hug before running out of the room. Sakura laughed and turned around and watched him when he ran out. Ino had been in the back of the room, and she was laughing softly as well.

"He has a crush on you, it's so cute!" Ino squealed.

Sakura laughed, "He's a sweet boy, very shy, but know what he wants.." Sakura said with her back to Ino while she was collecting the stuff she had used. She then turned around with a small grin, "He's so adorable!" She said and and she began to laugh with Ino.

"So, what have you been hired to do at the Chuunin exam's?" Ino asked Sakura.

"I've been asked to be a undercover Genin at the test, then I'm going to be at the tower when people get in, and I'm also going to be healing if there's any critical wounds." Sakura answered. "How about you?"

"Oh, pretty much the same. I will be a undercover Genin as well, I'll be in the forest through out the week and I'll be at the tower when the one on one fights starts." Ino explained.

"Oh, alright." Sakura said.

"What has Sasuke been up to lately?" Ino asked. Both Ino's and Sakura's feelings had changed towards the Uchiha after he was brought back to Konoha a little more than 3 years ago.

_**Flashback**_

"_Who's there!?" The gate guard asked, but the person that carried another person quickly fled. "Hey!" the guard yelled again, but didn't get an answer. He then walked over to the body laying on the ground. He turned him. "I- It can't be...!" He said to himself._

"_Is there a problem over there?" Kakashi asked lazily as he walked towards the gate._

"_Kakashi-sempai! Sasuke Uchiha has returned! Somebody dropped him off!" The guard said and Kakashi's eyes widened._

_  
"Are you sure it's him?" He asked, not believing his ears._

"_I'm positive, sir!" The guard said. "He's unconscious, and the person fled before I could ask him any questions." _

_Kakashi walked over to the Uchiha, he seemed wounded, but nothing the medics couldn't heal. "What did this person look like?" Kakashi asked, having a slight feeling of who it was._

"_I'm sorry, sir. I didn't see much. His clothes were all black, blending good in with the trees and darkness. My guess is that he was a ninja. The person also had short but very wild hair, sir." The guard said._

"_Alright, thank you. I'll take it from here." Kakashi said and picked up Sasuke and started running towards the hospital. When Kakashi entered the hospital, he walked over to the main desk. The woman sitting there were only a few years younger then him, and was often flirting with him. He also flirted back at times, but that didn't really matter now. "I need a doctor! NOW!" He said almost straight in the face of the woman. _

"_Kakashi-sensei! Who is tha-" Sakura asked but stopped when Kakashi turned around and she could see who he was carrying. "S-Sasuke..?" Sakura looked at Sasuke and then up at Kakashi who gave her a look that said he would tell her everything later. Kakashi looked to Sakura's side to see both Tsunade and Shizune stand next to her giving him the same look._

"_Alright, let's find a room so we can heal him. You can give your report then, Kakashi." Tsunade said and Kakashi nodded and followed them into a room down the hall. Kakashi placed Sasuke on the bed and Tsunade and Shizune started to remove his shirt to revile the wounds they had to heal. _

_Kakashi saw Sakura look at Sasuke with a worried look on his face. When she swallowed hard and made a slight grimace to keep her emotions in check, Kakashi walked over to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. She took a deep breath and looked up at Kakashi. "Kakashi, give me your report." Tsunade said as she was looking over Sasuke's body. "Shizune, could you heal him? It's not that complicated."_

"_Hai!" Shizune said, placed her hair up into a bun, took on a pair of gloves and started to heal him. _

_Tsunade saw the way Sakura was looking at Sasuke and got a soft look on her face. "Sakura." She said and Sakura looked over at her master. Kakashi let go of her shoulder. "Come here." Tsunade said and sat down at the couch and patted the seat next to her with a soft smile. Sakura nodded slightly before walking over and sitting down next to her. Tsunade had grown to become second mother to Sakura, and Tsunade looked at Sakura as the daughter she never had. "Take a chair and sit down Kakashi." Tsunade said and Kakashi nodded, took a chair and placed it down in front of the couch where Tsunade and Sakura were sitting. "Report." Tsunade said._

"_I was not the person who found him. A gate guard saw a person drop him off, before fleeing in a matter of seconds. When I asked about the person, he said that he wore black clothes, was mots likely a ninja, because of how he got away so quickly, and his clothes could blend in with the forest and the darkness easily. But what caught my attention was the fact that he said that the person had short, but wild blond hair." Kakashi said and could see Sakura and Tsunade look at him shocked, he even heard Shizune stop healing Sasuke for a while, not believing her ears. "After what I was told by Anko, Asuma, Kurenai and Gai was that Naruto had begun to wear clothes that made it easier for him to blend in with the things surrounding him. That and the description of the hair pretty much gives it away." Kakashi explained. "I picked Sasuke up and brought him here."_

_Kakashi saw Sakura smile slightly, __**'You really kept your promise, Naruto..'**_

**End Flashback**

"Oh, he's doing some D-rank missions. He isn't allowed to do higher ranks or leave the village yet. Tsunade says he has to earn the village's trust again." Sakura said.

"Ok.. How long do you think that will take?" Ino asked.

Sakura shrugged, "I don't know.. Probably a few years.. Sasuke's behavior haven't changed much either.." Ino nodded. "Well, I have to go, Tsunade-sama wanted me in for a meeting. I'll see you later, alright?"

-.-.-.

**3 days later.**

"Yo, dude! Are you sure this is the right way?" A 18 year old boy with dark short hair and slightly dark skin asked.

"YES! For the 100th time, THIS IS THE FREAKING RIGHT WAY!" The blond 18 year old boy answered.

"Guys! Cut it out! You're giving me an headache!" A 18 year old girl with shoulder length blond hair pulled up into a ponytail said.

"Sorry.." The boys said. The girl rolled her eyes.

"Are we there yet?" The dark haired boy asked.

"Yes, we're there soon." The other boy answered. "Seriously Taku! Be quiet!"

"Naruto! We've been dealing with you for almost 4 years, and now I can't even ask if we're there yet..?" Taku asked.

"NO, you can't!" Naruto answered.

"...Why?"

Naruto was about to rip his hair out. Taku could get so annoying at times! "Because..** It's the way we roll!**"

"AH! Right! That's the way we roll!" Taku recited and Naruto looked over at Gina. Gina just smiled and shook her head before turning her head forwards again.

"But seriously, dude, you're sure you're not going to get killed..?" Taku asked Naruto and Gina also stooped and looked at Naruto.

Naruto put on his thinking face, he then grinned, "Nope! I don't think so!"

Gina sighed, why did she have to be with people who were so careless?!

"Holt!" The guard said. He then took a look at Naruto and he started shaking. "I-I-It c-can't b-b-be..."

Naruto cursed inside his head, was he going to get kicked out now?

"Yondaime-sama..?" The guard asked and Naruto looked at him as if he was crazy.

"What? No." Naruto answered.

"Oh.. My apologizes, I think you look quite a lot like him." The guard said and looked Naruto up and down. Naruto raised an eyebrow and watched the guy terrified. The guard looked up at his face and immediately started blushing. "I-I-I.. I-It was NOT what it looked like!"

"...Right.." Taku said and shook his head.

"I am NOT GAY!!" The guard said and looked at Gina. "As I said, I am not gay, would you like to go out sometime?"

"No thank you." Gina answered politely with a smile on her face.

The guards face fell. "What? You're taken?"

"..Kind of. These two boys have my heart." She said and placed her arms around them. Naruto laughed at the guards expression.

"... Are you dating both of them..?" He asked.

"No..." Gina said. "Look, we're here for the Chuunin exams, so it would be very lovely if you could let us in.." Gina smiled and let go of Naruto and Taku.

"S-sure! Erm.. what are your names?" The guard asked, still blushing.

"Gina and Taku." Taku said and the guard nodded before looking up. Taku looked over at Naruto. "He really don't like to give out his name.. He have had a pretty bad childhood, making him not wanting to tell so many people his name." Taku lied/explained.

"Well, I'll need to know a name, or else he wont be allowed to be let through." The guard said.

"We have a signature from our boss, if that helps." Gina said and handed him a paper where it was explained that he was indeed a person on the team, and the boss had signed.

"Okay, I guess it's alright." The guard said, "But, if I find out that this is fake, or you are making any trouble, we'll be throwing you out, understood?"

Naruto winced when he said 'we'll be throwing you out,' but smiled and nodded anyway. "Thank you. And do not worry, you wont even see me." Naruto said and the guard nodded before waving his hand, motioning for them to walk ahead.

"Literally.." Taku then muttered.

-.-.-.-...--.

Naruto and his friends walked through the village, and Naruto took in all the changes. He smiled when he saw Tsunade's head on the Hokage mountain. Someday, his face was going to be on that mountain, hopefully next to hers. He looked around himself and saw children laughing and playing with each other, like no one was kept outside of the game. He smiled, at least things like that had changed. It wasn't only him that was kept outside of the games when he was little, other's were too. He saw one of the children trip and fall, before starting to cry. He looked at the girls knee and saw it bleeding. He walked over to the small crowd of children that was standing around her making sure she was okay.

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked and sat down in front of her. The girl sniffed and looked up at him. "You want me to take care of it?" He asked and the little girl nodded slowly. He took out a scroll and bit his thumb, before he placed his hand down on the scroll. He got a cloth and water and cleaned her small wound, before drying it. "What kind of animal do you want on your bandage?" Naruto asked and the girl looked over them.

"T-the fox.." The girl said.

"You like foxes?" Naruto asked as he placed the bandage over her knee.

The girl nodded, "I-it's my favorite animal.." Naruto grinned.

"Mine too!" Naruto said and the little girl giggled. "Does it hurt?" Naruto asked and the girl shook her head no. "Okay, then." He said and helped her stand up. "Bye!" He said and walked over to Taku and Gina.

"Bye! Thank you!" He heard the girl and her friends say.

Gina smiled. "They seem to like you." She said and looked at the children. They were all talking about him and waving at him. Naruto laughed and waved back. A black haired woman who looked like she was in her late 30s then walked up to the children, mainly the girl that had hurt herself. She seemed to ask the girl how she got the bandage and the little girl grinned and pointed at Naruto. The woman looked at him and had a shocked look on her face. Naruto didn't know what to do so he just smiled and looked over at Taku and Gina. The woman then walked up to them.

"Y-Yondaime-sama..?" the woman asked and Taku began laughing out loud. Gina hit him over the head.

"Don't be rude!" She yelled at him.

"No..." Naruto said and looked at the woman unsure. For a minute there he thought that she would somehow know who he really was.

"Oh.. I'm sorry.. It's just that.. you look just like him.." She said and laughed, "Kinda stupid of me.." She said.

Naruto shook his head and smiled, "I've gotten that a lot lately, it's okay." He said and the woman laughed.

"Well, thank you for helping my little girl." The woman said and Naruto nodded at her.

"No problem. Well, we have to go. Bye."

-..--...--..-.-.-

Naruto, Gina and Taku walked into the building where the written test of the Chuunin exam would be. They walked up the 2nd floor, and saw a lot of Genin standing around the entrance to a room. "Hey! Let us in!" Naruto smiled and shook his head before just walking past them.

"Wrong floor." He said as he passed them, making all the Genin and the two people keeping the Genin out of the room look at him. Gina and Taku followed Naruto after they also realized that this was the 2nd floor, not the 3rd. Soon, Genin were running past them and up the stairs to the 3rd floor. Naruto laughed to himself. He was like that 6 years ago. As they walked up to the 3rd floor, Taku somehow got lost.

"Where's that idiot?" Gina asked and looked around.

Naruto laughed, "He's probably just at the toilette or something. He'll come." Naruto said and opened the door to the room they were going to have their test in. When he stepped in, everybody watched them. Nearly everyone that lived when the Yondaime was alive looked at him shocked.

"Yondaime-Sama!?" He heard somebody yell out surprised.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "..No?"

He heard a lot of 'oh..'s and sighs. He laughed mentally. The doors then opened again and Naruto looked at the door, he was just a few feet away from the door anyways.

"CHEESE!" Taku said as he jumped into the room, holding a kunai.

"Hahaha!" Naruto began to laugh so hard he fell to the ground.

Taku straightened his body and let his hands fall to his sides. "What?" He asked confused.

Gina walked up to him. "Freeze!" She said and Taku began laughing slightly himself.

"Oh, freeze!" He said.

Naruto was still on the ground laughing his ass off. He tried to get up, still laughing. "C-Classic!" He said and laughed even more.

Taku got a bored expression on his face, "Dude. It wasn't that funny!" Taku looked at Gina who had her hand up in front of her mouth trying to keep herself from laughing but failed. Taku looked around and saw that some other people were laughing, while some just looked at him like he was either stupid, or insane.

Naruto got up from the floor, still laughing slightly. Taku had always been like this. He would either try to be serious, scare you or say something funny, but it backfired badly. He would say the wrong things most of the times. Naruto looked around in the room. He spotted Konohamaru and smirked slightly. He was going to take the Chuunin exams as well? That would get interesting. He decided to turn around and talk to Taku and Gina when his eyes caught something too familiar. Something long and _pink_.

_'Sakura-chan..'_ Naruto thought as his breath was caught in his throat. She was beautiful! Her hair had grown a little, but wasn't the same length as it was when they first got on the same team. It was something in the middle of that and when she had cut her hair. She had grown other places then just her hair. She had gotten taller, but Naruto was still taller than her. She had gotten curvier and even more beautiful than he could remember.

Sakura could feel somebody looking at her and turned around, before she locked eyes with Naruto. She looked at his eyes and his hair, which was very familiar.. But there was no way that was Naruto. The guy didn't even have whisker marks. Sakura kept staring into his eyes, quickly becoming lost in them. She then became aware of what she was doing and started blushing furiously and looking away. In the corner of her eyes she could see the boy smile in her direction before turning to talk with his friends.

"Alright! Get seated! The number of your seats are the ones you were given when you walked in. Find your seats, now!" A man said. Naruto looked over at him and smirked. Ibiki..

Naruto started looking for his seat and when he found it, he had gotten seated right next to Sakura. Naruto took a deep breath and sat down on her right side. They were on the forth row, almost in the middle, but more towards the right. Sakura looked up at him, Naruto looked back at her and smiled. Sakura blushed slightly, smiled back before turning her head away slightly.

_'There's something about him!' _She thought to herself.

**'Eh.. YEAH! He's hot!' **Inner Sakura said.

_'She's so cute!' _Naruto though before looking over at Ibiki.

"This test has 10 questions in total. There's 9 questions on the paper, and the 10th will be given to you at the end of the test. If we catch you cheat a total of three times, or if you cheat very obvious one time, you and your team will fail the test, and will have to wait for the next Chuunin exams. Is that understood?" He asked and when he didn't get an answer, "Alright! Turn your papers and begin the test!"

"Good luck blondie!" Taku yelled from behind.

"Right back at yah!" Naruto yelled and turned his paper. He chuckled, it was nearly all of the same questions as when he took the Chuunin exams with team 7. He chuckled and put his pencil up to his face and pretended to be thinking.

_'He doesn't seem to be scared of the fact that he can get caught cheating and send both him and his team home.. And neither does he seem faced by the amount of time there is. He is a little too calm for my liking..' _Sakura though as she eyed him out of the corner of her eyes.

"72! 68! 27! 94! Get your teams and get out of here! You're disqualified!" Naruto heard one of the people who wrote down all the cheating down say. Naruto just sat there staring at his paper.

_'He doesn't even seem faced by the fact that people around him are getting disqualified.. As if.. He know how it works in Konoha..'_ Sakura thought. Yes, how the Chuunin exams are done are different in the different villages. Naruto dropped his pencil, and when he went under his table to pick it up, he looked quickly at Sakura's answers. _'Not bad.. Not many people would see that, but he couldn't have seen as much either..'_

When Naruto was under the table, he saw something he hadn't seen earlier.. Sakura was wearing a skirt.. And you could see her perfect toned legs, all the way up the her mid thigh. Naruto's eyes widened. There was no way in HELL he would look at her that way! Not there! He wasn't a pervert like many people thought before! When he was younger, he was reaching his puberty and he was... curious.. But he would never do that to Sakura. He picked up his pencil quickly and tried to stand up, but soon remembered that he was still under the table because he hit his head, making the whole table lift. "OUCH!" He whispered angrily. When he got up and sat back on his seat, he was rubbing his head. He looked over at Sakura who was just looking at him. He laughed a little uncomfortably and returned to his test.

Minutes and minutes went by, and team by team was disqualified. Soon, there were just 5 minutes left. "There's time for the tenth question! This one will be 10 times as hard as the one's on your test! If you decide to not take the question, you can take the Chuunin exams in 6 months... But if you try, and you fail... You will stay a Genin..." He made a dramatic pause and Naruto could hear most of the Genin in the room hold their breath. "Forever!" Naruto heard many gasps coming and smirked. This didn't go unnoticed by either Sakura or Ibiki. "If anyone want to leave now, you have 2 minutes! Your choice will harm your team members as well!"

Slowly, person by person left, taking their teams with them. A lot of apologies were given and heard. Naruto looked forward and to his left when he saw a young black haired boy slowly raise his hand. He recognized him as Konohamaru. Naruto looked as Konohamaru stopped, not sure if he should take the chance, or stay safe. "Why should we go?" Naruto asked, making a lot of people look in his direction, Konohamaru also dropped his hand down to his table. Naruto had his arms crossed, and a small smirk on his face as he looked right at Ibiki. Ibiki raised an eyebrow. At this point, some were leaving, some were staying.

"That's your decision to make." Ibiki said.

"And that's why we gotta look underneath the underneath, right?" Naruto asked, his smirk never leaving his face.

Ibiki looked at his clock while smirking slightly. "Last chance to leave!" At that, some others also stood up and left. Ibiki looked over the group. It was quite a lot left, but not as much as a few years ago. "You all..." He said, making another dramatic effect. "..Pass!" He said with a big grin on his face.

"WHAT?!" Somebody yelled, "But what about the 10th question!?"

"You already answered it. You took a chance. You decided. You made a choice. That choice could cost you the life of your team mates in a battle, that's why you have to be quick with your decision." Ibiki explained. "The reason behind this test is to see if you have the brain to figure out things you may or may not know. Either, you know the answers, or you don't. If you knew the answers to these questions, you have a great head on your shoulders, but if you didn't, you'd have to find a way around it and cheat.."

"But you said.." A Genin said, but Ibiki cut him off.

"The reason we told you to not cheat, was to let you find a way to cheat that was hardly visible, or something you could use in battle. As said earlier, you gotta look underneath the underneath.. As many of you have done now. Maybe you were aware of it, maybe not. That's why we placed several Chuunin undercover as Genin, so you could cheat of them." Ibiki said and nodded his head, motioning for the undercover Chuunin to come up next to him.

A few people stood up, one of them being Sakura. She looked down at Naruto when she felt him look at her. He smiled. _'Did he know?'_ she asked herself.

"Now, these are the Chuunin that has been undercover. You might recognize some of them. Sakura Haruno, apprentice of the 5th Hokage for example." Ibiki said and pointed at Sakura. "Now, don't forget to write your names on the papers!" Naruto sighed, his name.. It would be a short amount of time he would get to be here now.. Well, nothing to do about it. "And the next test is-" Ibiki was interrupted by a lot of smoke, a black paper that was pierced into the wall with kunais and a woman's voice.

"My name is Anko Mitarashi and I am the second protector of his exam!" She yelled and people looked at her terrified. "Get to the forest of death! NOW!" She yelled and people were running out.

"Crazy woman.." Naruto muttered as he walked towards the door.

"HEY! I HEARD THAT!" Anko yelled and threw a kunai at him. Naruto bent backwards and threw his own kunai right at the kunai that was flying towards him. He then smirked and walked out of the room. Anko got an irritated look on her face before she proofed away.

"I'll help you collect the test's, Ibiki-san." Sakura said as everyone had left but them. Ibiki nodded and they began to collect the tests. When Sakura came to where she had been sitting and picked up the test nest to hers, she stopped breathing. This didn't go unnoticed by Ibiki. "I-It can't be..." She said and stared at the paper. Ibiki came over to her and his eyes widened, not because the test was all without answers, but because of the name. _Naruto Uzumaki.._

Ibiki looked at the test. "That was him? I thought there was something I recognized about him..."

"Y-yeah.. B-but.. He didn't have.." She said slowly and touched her cheek. "A-and.. He didn't say anything.." Sakura said and looked up at Ibiki, her eyes slowly filling with tears. Not because she was sad, but happy because she actually had seen him again. He had changed so much!

"Sakura.. I think it's best if we don't tell anyone about this yet. You know he's not supposed to be here.." Ibiki said.

Sakura looked at him. "What do you mean? I can't lie to Tsunade-sama! She'll see right through me!"

"Don't mention anything, Sakura. It's best if he get a chance to explain himself, rather then we tell and he gets into even more trouble than he could get if he explains himself." Ibiki said. Sakura nodded. "Well. I'll finish up here.. And they've probably already gone into the forest.. you could always be at the tower when he gets there. Go on." Sakura looked up at him, "I can see that you want to talk to him. Aren't you supposed to be at the tower when they get there anyway?"

Sakura smiled and nodded, "Thanks."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.-..-.

"Anko-san!" A ninja said.

"What?" Anko asked with her mouth full of Dango.

"Someone are at the tower already!" The ninja said.

Anko looked at the clock and spit out her dango. "WHAT!?" The ninja wiped off the wet dango bits that were on his face. "It's only been 5 minutes!"

"Look at this tape." He said and placed the security camera on. Sure enough, the blond boy from before, along with his two team members were already at the tower. The black haired showed the two scrolls to the camera before running away.

"They don't even look tired! How is that possible! They beat the record by.. hours!" Anko yelled.

"Well, they've opened the scrolls. They were real." The ninja said. "Do you think it's an attack?"

"No.. I feel like I know that guy.. But he's not a bad person.." Anko said and caused the clip so she got a good look on his face. "..I think we can let this pass. But still, look out for suspicious things in the forest and at this tower."

"Hai!"

-.-.--.--.-.-.-.

"Dude, which room is ours?" Taku asked.

Naruto looked at his paper. "Number 9. It's right over there." Naruto said and pointed at one of the doors. It had a 9 on it.

Taku opened the door and looked into the room. "Holy shh.." He began but Gina gave him a look. Taku and Gina walked in. Naruto was about to follow when he heard a too familiar voice.

"N-Naruto...?" Naruto turned and looked straight at Sakura...

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.--.--

Okay.. Sorry about the cliffhanger there! But I'm feeling very sick, so I should probably go and lay down. I love Rush hour 3, that's why I used a blooper from it that cracks me up every time. Now, I introduced two new characters, Taku and Gina. To get Taku's personality right.. Think of Carter from the Rush hour movies!

Yes.. Naruto's whiskers are gone at the moment. Why? You'll get the answer in later chapters.

I hope you _**review**_! I've been waiting to be writing this and the next few chapters for a very long time now, and I have a few good ideas. So, again; Please review and tell me what you think!

Love you!


	12. Chapter 12

The still living dream

**A/N;** Hey guys! Finally I have the next chapter ready! I've been pretty busy now, with test's in school, finally finding out why I'm sick all the time, and trying to sort out everything that's happening in my life. Upon all of this, the dog that we're taking care of(He's my dogs brother, and a friend of my family suddenly got my dogs brother from his original owner, and we're taking care of him right now.. It's kinda complicated..) and he's sick, so I've been worried sick about him as well.. Apparently, he has a too small lever.. and we're waiting for his heart test thing.. Hopefully there's nothing wrong with that as well.

Anyways, This is where you get the talk between Sakura and Naruto. It might be a little.. bad.. Since I've written most of this chapter when I've been really sick.. But if it's too bad I'll probably try to rewrite it later. Personally, I feel their talk was a little off.. And you get to know a little more about Gina and Taku in this chapter, but mostly Gina. Please Review and tell me how you liked this chapter!

**THANK YOU; **Gravenimage**, **Cloud Ex-SOLDIER,Nebula1701, Darth Luffy, shyguy1818, dragonshaun9, bradw316, twin083, DrendeSalkash, spider of the leaf, Ravus7, emilbootanimefreak, JovialShogun, burningwindlord, casey shook, c im am a dragon.

**Disclaimer;** I do not own Naruto! I do own Gina, Taku, and all the other characters made by me.

-.-.-.-.-.-

Naruto froze and looked to his left. There, down the hall, was none other then Sakura. He swallowed and looked at her. He wasn't quite sure what he was going to do. Was she mad that he didn't tell her right away that it was him? Was she sad that he hadn't told her right away? Was she disappointed in him? Was she angry? He couldn't quite figure it out. He realized he hadn't talked back to her. "Sakura-chan... I.." He didn't know what to say, he was so hopeless!

To his surprise and partly relief, Sakura smiled softly at him. "It's really you.." She said and started walking slowly towards him, as if she was worried that he would fade away as she got closer. But he didn't. She stopped as she was standing just a few feet away from him. "Y-you're really here.." She said and placed her hand soft on his arm. "..Y-you.. Really.. A-are.." Sakura said and tears began to come into her eyes and she shook her head trying to get them away, but with no luck. Tears started to slowly roll down her face.

Naruto noticed this and got worried. "Ah.. Sakura-chan.. Please don't cry! I didn't mean to-" He said but was caught off guard when Sakura threw herself into his arms. She had her arms around his torso and hugged him tightly. Naruto froze when he felt her soft cheek against his own and her arms around him. He then felt something wet come onto his skin and realized that Sakura was still crying. He smiled slightly and his arms found their way around her waist and he hugged her back. She was basically hanging onto him, her toes barely touching the ground. He smiled slightly to himself and held her even closer, making it a lot more comfortable to be hanging in his arms. He was pretty much just holding her above the ground while hugging her.

"I.. I'm so happy to see you.." Sakura said between soft sobs and hugged him even closer. "I..I started to think I would never see you again.." She eventually let go of him and got the chance to look at him better. He was about 1 ½ head taller than her, his hair still blond, wild and a little bit longer. His whisker marks were gone, which she thought was a little weird, but would ask him about that later. She noticed that he had gotten very well built. You could see his just perfect size of muscles perfectly even in a relaxed state. She also noticed that she could see his six-pack through his white sleeveless shirt. She blushed and looked away slightly. She had been in _those_ arms!

Naruto had also been looking at her. To say he was amazed would be understandable. She looked even more beautiful now that he really got a chance to look at her. He noticed her blush and look away and smiled slightly to himself. She had grown so much, she was a beautiful woman now. When she looked up at him again with a slight hint of a blush on her face his heart nearly melted. "You look great, Sakura-chan." He said and smiled.

Sakura began to blush again. "T-thank you.. You look good yourself. Been training a lot?" Sakura mentally hit herself in the head._ '__you look good, been training a lot?'__ it's just like I'm telling him straight out that he's hot!'_

**'Well, he is!'** Inner Sakura shouted.

Sakura mentally glared at her inner personality. _'Shut up!'_

Naruto smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I've been training for basically every day since the day I had to leave.. Except the days when I got sick, or was passed out.." Naruto said. "You're still training under Tsunade, right?" he asked and she nodded slightly, the blush still on her face.

"She's been pushing me hard.. But it's worth it. She's become like family to me after I don't really talk much with my parents anymore.. She's almost like a mother really." Sakura said and smiled, feeling a little less awkward around him now. "Shizune's like a sister.. or an aunt.." She said slowly and began to think to herself. Naruto waited patiently while she was in her own thoughts. She came back into reality and rubbed her head while putting on a sheepish smile, "Sorry.."

Naruto chuckled, "Nah, It's okay." It seemed like he couldn't stop smiling around her. She had this effect on him. Whenever he was sad, angry, mad or even CRAZY, he would think of her and smile. She had no idea how many times she had saved him in bad situations. He had been in some pretty hard and difficult fights where he nearly lost and was killed, but the thought of her made him relax and really think about the situation. _'If I die here, I will never be able to see Sakura-chan again..'_ He would always think first. Of course, if he died, then he wouldn't be able to see any of his other friends either, which he also thought, while the name that came out every time was Sakura-chan.

"Um.. Is it okay if I ask a question?" Sakura asked carefully and hesitant.

Naruto nodded, "Sure." he said, "You don't really have to ask me if you can ask me a question. You can ask me anything."

Sakura nodded, but seemed nervous. "Well.. I.. What happened to your whisker marks?" Sakura asked, her voice barely above a whisper. She could see Naruto tense slightly, and began to think that it was wrong of her to ask him that question.

Naruto sighed softly, "Can we go somewhere a little more private to talk about that? I have a feeling somebody is watching us." Naruto whispered back at Sakura.

_'Somebody watching us? I can feel anyone around here..?'_ Sakura thought to herself. 'Then again.. maybe his senses are stronger because of the Kyuubi.. Or he could have just trained them up..' Sakura thought and nodded at him.

"You can also meet two of my friends!" He said exited. Sakura chuckled and nodded again. Naruto opened the door and let Sakura walk inside before he followed and closed the door. They were met by the sight of Gina's back, while she was playing on the piano. The melody she was playing was soft and almost a little sad in the chorus. Sakura looked up at Naruto to see him leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a smile on his face. Gina stopped playing and sighed softly. "A new song?" Naruto asked and Gina turned around on the small chair she was sitting on and looked at him.

"Yeah." She said and noticed Sakura. She smiled, got up and walked over to them. "You must be Sakura!" She said with a big smile on her face and reached her arm out for Sakura to shake. Sakura shook her hand but had as comfused look on her face.

"How did you know?" Sakura asked and Gina laughed.

"I'm pretty sure there aren't many people with pink hair nowadays. I'm Gina." She said, "Besides, Naruto has talked a lot about you and the rest of his friends, but I'm pretty sure you're the one he's been talking about the most." Gina said. Both Sakura and Naruto started blushing. "Aww! That's so cute!"

"WHOO! You do NOT wanna go in there!" Taku yelled slightly and he used a magazine to try to get the smell away. He spotted Sakura and grinned. "Hey! You weren't kidding!" He said and walked up to Sakura. "I'm Taku!" He said and reached his hand out. Sakura was about to shake it when Gina interrupted.

"Taku, have you washed your hands?" She asked, like she knew he hadn't.

He took his hand back and excused himself. "One second." he said and ran back into the bathroom, washing his hands and then running back to Naruto and the others. "Sorry about that, I just had to get away from that horrible smell." He said and reached his hand out once again. Sakura shook it and Gina clapped her hands together.

"Well! It's nice to finally meet you! Taku and I have something to do, so we'll come back later, okay? Great! Bye!" She said and started walking out of the room.

"What? But I wanna be here- argh!" Taku said but got dragged by the back of his shirt out of the room.

Sakura looked at Naruto. "Sorry.. Taku's kinda.. Different.. Than normal people.." Naruto said. He then smelled the air and grimaced. "Man!" He yelled and ran to the bathroom door and closed it. He then let out a huge sigh and shook his head, it had become an habit when he was hanging out with Taku.

"These rooms sure has changed since I last took the exam.. The rooms used to be nothing but a simple bathroom, a few beds and food... This is just like a very expensive hotel room! Tsunade-sama said it looked really bad and stuff, so she hired a lot of people to fix the room and make them more.. nice to be in." Sakura said.

"That's nice. It looks good." Naruto said and sat down on a bed he guessed was going to be his, because Taku and Gina's stuff were all over the two other beds. Sakura sat down on the bed next to him and crossed her legs. Naruto sighed. "Yeah.. Whisker marks.." Naruto said, trying to figure out the right way of explaining everything that had happened to him.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, Naruto." Sakura said and Naruto shook his head.

"No, it's okay. I'm just trying to figure out the right way to tell you so nothing gets misunderstood or anything." Naruto said. "Don't freak out.. But.. I and the Kyuubi _kinda_ blended together.." Naruto began.

Sakura's mouth fell to the floor. "You _blended_ together!?"

Naruto let his hands fall to his sides and sighed, "I wasn't finished, it's not as bad as it sounds." He assured her and Sakura closed her mouth and waited for him to continue, still a little shocked. "The reason for that is because as I grow, the seal weakens.. Which causes me to lose more and more control over him. What no one, not even I knew, was that during this process, the Kyuubi is also hurt badly. So bad, to the point where he can actually die.. Which will cause me to.." Naruto trailed off.

"Die.." Sakura chocked out. She quickly looked up at him after she realized what she had said and looked at him with a look full of worry.

Naruto smiled at her. "That's why we _blended_, as he calls it. That's why my whiskers are gone, and I've gotten his senses.. Which I don't really complain about... The sad thing is that I'll still have to live with him inside of me. We've actually become.. friends..?" Sakura stared at him. "Yeah, I know. Friends.. You know, people really have gotten the wrong idea of him.. Somebody tricked him into attacking Konoha 18 years ago."

"What?" Sakura said, not believing what she was hearing.

"Someone dressed up as Leaf ninja's and.." Naruto stopped and started looking into the wall behind Sakura. "...Attacked his family.." Naruto finished, still looking at the wall behind her.

"That's horrible! Who would do that?" Sakura asked and Naruto shrugged his shoulders in response.

"I don't know, but I guess it was someone who wanted something horrible like that happening to Konoha at that point.." He said.

Sakura became quiet. Konoha was in the middle of many wars at that point.. but there was one war that they were focusing on... She just couldn't remember it.. "I'll look into it." She said. Naruto smiled at her, and she could feel her heart flutter. She had never felt such a strong feeling towards.. anyone.. It was completely new for her. She had a feeling she knew what the feeling was, but she was too scared to believe it.

"Sakura-chan..? Is something wrong?" Naruto was about 2 inches away from her face when she came back to reality. She started blushing madly. "You were staring at me really weird." He said and Sakura began blushing even more. "Ah-! Sakura-chan? Are you okay?!" He asked panicking and feeling her forehead. "You're really hot, Lay down here.."He said and helped her lay down on the bed. "Let me find a cloth and something to drink for you!" He said and ran into the bathroom and stumbled out a few seconds later with a wet cloth in his hand. "Ugh! The smell is still there!" Sakura chuckled and ran to her hand placed the cloth on her forehead. "Ehh... WATER! Right!" He said and ran to find some water for her. He came back and gave her the water bottle and sat down on the floor next to the bed she was laying on. "Anything you need? Anything else I can get you? Are you okay? Are yo-" He was silenced with a finger on his lips.

"Take it easy, I'm fine." She said and smiled at his expression. "It's just.." Sakura began, "I feel so bad about what happened to the Kyuubi." She lied. Well, not entirely lied, she felt bad about what happened.

"Oh.." Naruto said. "Yeah.."

There was an awkward silence until Sakura looked at the clock on the wall. Her eyes widened and she panicked, "Aw man! I'm late! I have to go, I have a meeting with the rest of the Chuunin and Jounin's working during the Chuunin exams."

Naruto laughed, "Alright, you'd better get going." He said and reached his hand out. She stared at it for a moment before taking it and looking into his eyes. He helped her up from the bed and gave her a hug. He then pulled away and smiled at her. "Could I ask you a favor?" Sakura was a little busy watching his hands that were still around her waist but looked up.

"Er.. sure." She said, a little distracted.

"Please don't tell anyone I'm here?" Naruto said and Sakura stared at him.

"What? Why not?" Sakura asked.

Naruto sighed, "I want to tell everybody myself.. or at least be there when they get to know.. That way I can explain things.. And I wanna see their reactions as well!" He said and grinned sheepishly at the last reason he gave.

Sakura chuckled, "Okay, I promise." She said but realized something, "Naruto, you're supposed to be banished, if anyone get to know that you're inside the gate they'll kill you!" She said worried, gripping his collar.

Naruto placed his hands on top of hers and pulled them away from his collar. "It's alright, I have a way around that." Sakura gave him a look. "No really! I have!"

Sakura smirked and hit him lightly on the shoulder. "Just don't get killed right after I see you again after 5 years."

Naruto smirked back at her while rubbing his shoulder, "I won't, I promise!" He said but then grimaced, "Man, it actually hurts when you hit me.. But I've missed it!"

Sakura rolled her eyes and hit his shoulder again, not as hard this time. "Well, I have to go.. C-can I come over some other day? I really liked talking to you again."

"You're welcome at any time." Naruto said and opened the door for her.

"Thanks. I'll see you later then! Bye!" She said and started walking down the hall.

"Bye!" He said back and leaned against the door frame with a dreamy look on his face. He then exploded and ran into the room and started jumping on his bed. "I talked to Sakura-chan and I didn't mess up!" He yelled while jumping and dancing on his bed. He eventually lost his footing and fell off the bed and onto the floor. "Whoa!" He said and hit the floor with a 'thud'. He groaned, "_Man_ that hurt!"

The door opened and Taku and Gina walked into the room. Gina stared at him. "Did you jump on the bed again?" Naruto was unable to move at all but he managed to grunt slightly. Gina rolled her eyes and went over to him and started to help him up.

-.-.-.-rfgrw-.-

**A few days later..**

Naruto was laying on his bed when there was a knock on the door. He looked at the door for a second before going and opening it. Sakura was standing there with her hands full of homemade ramen and a big smile on her face. "Hey. I thought you'd like this." She said and gave him a cup of ramen. Naruto practically started drooling so much he had to wipe it away with his arm.

"Thanks Sakura-chan!" He said and pulled her into the room. She saw Taku and Gina and smiled, "I brought some for you as well! I'm not really sure if you like ramen but.."

"Aw! Thank you!" Gina said and took a box of ramen. "You know, you just saved us, Naruto's been bugging us about wanting ramen ever since we got here.. It was starting to get really annoying." Naruto looked at her for a few seconds before starting to eat his ramen. Gina rolled her eyes.

"How did you guys meet?" Sakura asked suddenly. Gina instantly lifted her head from her ramen and glared at Taku, while he started blushing, grinning and chuckling perversely. Sakura looked at Naruto, hoping he would give him an answer, but he had actually placed his head in his hand. Sakura looked confused between the three of them.

Gina sighed, "Well, you see.."

_**Flashback**_

_Naruto walked into the hotspring and slid down into the warm water. He sighed in delight. He hadn't been able to bath in almost two weeks. He had lost track of where he was supposed to go up in the mountains, which caused him to walk around in circles and never come back on track. He was supposed to cross the mountain as a short cut to a city he was going to visit. But that didn't matter now, all that mattered was that he was in the city, in a hotspring and enjoying himself. He closed his eyes and tried to soak as much of his body as possible. He then heard a lot of male giggling. Giggling._

_Naruto narrowed his eyes in confusion and lifted his head from the water and looked behind him. It was the wall that was dividing the male hotspring from the female hotspring... and there was at least 20 men standing beside the wall and giggling. "Ooh! Take that off!" He heard somebody say, and then he saw two people high five, "Sweet!" The same voice said. Naruto sighed, there probably wouldn't be much time before someone noticed them. _

"_Guys, you're disrespectful. Besides, they'll notice you soon and you'll get beaten to death." Naruto said and almost all of the men turned around from their peek holes and looked at him. _

"_They've never noticed us before, besides, you're the only one who isn't peeking, what are you? Gay?" A man asked._

"_No, I know better than peeking on women, besides, I respect them." Naruto answered._

"_Whatever." He heard another man say turn around. The other men also turned around._

_Naruto sighed and slid down into the water. "Don't say I didn't warn you..." He said._

CRASH!

"_WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS THINK YOU'RE DOING YOU PERVS?!" The women yelled and crashed through the wall and started attacking the guys. Guys were hit and kicked and thrown all over the hotspring and through walls. After a while there was a lot of dust everywhere and Naruto was still laying in the hot spring. _

_He then heard a voice, "Who do you think you are?!" He opened his eyes and looked up to his left to see a girl around his age glare at him with her hands on her hips. She had two towels wrapped around her body, one around her bottom and one around her chest. She had blond hair and blue eyes. When she got a good look on her face her face softened. "W-what's that on your face?" She asked softly. _

_At this point, Naruto started panicking. His earlier excuses for this had never really worked. "W-well.. You see... I.. Walked by this tree.. A-and it had these sticks standing out... Yeah.. And.. I walked right into them.. Which.. Caused these marks." Naruto said and grinned dumbly._

_The girl didn't seem to believe this as her face didn't get another emotion. She bent down and placed her hand on his cheek. At this action Naruto's whole body stiffened. "You're lying. These aren't scars..." Naruto tried to take a deep breath, which was noticed by this girl. "And your reaction to what I just said proved it." _

"_I.." Naruto couldn't find the words for him to speak. _

"_It's almost like you had them since when you were born..." She said and stroked one of the marks. "...Or right after..." She said and looked him in the eyes. She saw the look he was giving her, a confused, uncomfortable and a little scared look. "That's what it is, isn't it? You got them right after you were born..?" _

_Naruto couldn't find any way around this and decided to just nod. This girl didn't seem like she would kill him anyways. She then noticed something different. She stared at his stomach and Naruto started blushing furiously. He thought she was staring at something a little lower.. He pulled away and tried to back off, but she followed. "..Something tells me that that's not a tattoo..." She said and leaned in closer. Naruto shook his head again and backed even more away. "Why are you backing away all the time?!" She asked him._

_Naruto swallowed, "Well, this is the men side of the hotspring.. And.." He said and looked down. Her eyes followed and just stared._

"_Oh.." She said softly and then realization got to her. "Oh!" She yelped and stood up with her back to him. "I'm sorry.." She said after a few seconds, still standing with her back to him. _

_Naruto chuckled, stood up and wrapped his towel around his waist. "It's alright." He said and she turned around but kept her eyes closed. "I'm Naruto." Naruto said and the girl opened her eyes and blushed slightly. _

"_I'm Gina." She said. "I'm sorry. I didn't look at.. you know.. before you pointed it out.. Sorry!" She yelled slightly at the last part and put her head in her hands. _

_Naruto blushed but chuckled slightly anyways and scratched the back of his neck. _

"_Hey! My name is-WHOA!" A boy with black hair said before he tripped... and pulled down both of Gina's towels.._

**End Flashback**

Sakura stared at Gina as she finished telling the story of how they met. Taku had fallen over giggling pervertedly and Naruto was telling him to stop it. Sakura shook her head, there was a few metal images she could live without. Taku managed to sit up at take deep breaths. "I..I SWEAR I didn't do it on purpose! I've told you that like.. A.." Taku said but stopped and started counting on his fingers. "54 times!" Gina just glared at him and Taku began grinning again. "Though.. I didn't mind the view.." He added under his breath but Gina heard it anyways. A vein appeared on Gina's forehead and Taku got up terrified. "I didn't-" He began but Gina got up and ran after him. Taku didn't get far and fell to the floor.

Gina sat on top of his back and grinned. "Payback..." She said. She opened the fridge, which Taku had miraculously fell in front and took out a finished strawberry milkshake and poured it over his head. Taku let out a high pitched scream. The cold milkshake slid down his neck. The fact that he hated strawberries made it even worse for him. Gina got off of him and smiled triumphantly, but then she winced and ran into the bathroom.

Taku had forgotten what she had just done to her and got up looking worried. "She's getting sick again.." Taku said and looked over at Naruto. He nodded, got up and walked over to her bag where she had a lot of medicine.

"What's wrong with her?" Sakura asked alarmed, her medic side coming forwards.

"She.. hasn't really had the best past.. It's complicated.. but she got sick and we don't know how to make her better.. all we can do is give her the medicine we've gotten." Naruto said.

"Let me go and help her. Maybe I can try to figure out what's wrong with her." Sakura asked and Naruto nodded, gave her the medicine and opened the door into the bathroom for her.

"Gina..?" Sakura asked softly as Naruto closed the door for her. Gina was sitting in front of the toilette with tears falling down from her eyes and onto the floor. Sakura also noticed she had blood in the corner of her mouth. Sakura sat down next to her just as Gina coughed up more blood into the toilette. Sakura began to rub her back gently and after a few minutes of coughing up blood Gina seemed to stop. "Here, let me give you your medicine and your shot." Sakura said. She decided to take the shot first. She placed the needle into her side and then proceed to make the medicine easier for her to swallow. She didn't want her to cough it up again.

".. T-thank you..." She said and took a glass of water from her and drank all of it. Sakura filled the glass up with water again and gave it to her along with a few tablets. Gina swallowed them and rested her head against the wall. She still had tears running down her face. "My dad and I hasn't really had the best relationship..." Gina started and Sakura sat down next to her. "Growing up, I never had a mother. She died just a few days after I was born.. I guess my dad blamed himself in the beginning, but then he started blaming me when I was around 3 years old.. He started hitting me and hurting me in so many ways and he even made me begin to do everything around the house at the age of 6. All he did himself was buying alcohol and then drinking it..." Gina sobbed. "When I was 12 I decided to become a ninja, and at the age of 15 I left my dad and moved to another city. It wasn't too far away from him, he still has a lot of control over me.. I worked at the hotspring where I met Naruto and Taku, I was taking a break."

Sakura couldn't do anything else then feel sorry for her. "Gina.. H-he didn't.. You know.."

Gina shook her head. "Rape me? No.. He knew that if he would do that, I would be taken away from him.. Besides, I believe that the father I remember is in there somewhere.. He wouldn't do anything like that to me. I just know that.. But he has lost control a lot..." She said and sobbed. "I just wish he could see me as who I really am and not some slave that do everything he ask me to do.." She tried to clear her throat, but winced as she tried.

"Here, let me heal your throat." Sakura said and placed her hands softly against her throat and focused. Green light appeared and Gina felt the pain go away slowly. Sakura then proceed to trying to find the reason to why she started coughing up blood in the first place, and placed one hand on her chest and one hand on her stomach and began healing those places as well.

"Thank you.."

Sakura smiled, "Don't mention it. It's my job, really." Sakura said and helped her stand up. "Let's get you to bed, you should get some rest." Sakura said and helped her out of the bathroom and onto Gina's bed.

After Gina laid down on her bed, Taku actually put the covers over her, making Sakura smile in a surprised way. He had many sides, most of them were crazy, but he knew when to be serious, careful and showing how much he actually care. "Thanks.." Gina said and laid her arm over her face while closing her eyes. After telling Sakura about her childhood and past, the story popped up in small pieces in her mind as small videos and images. Almost all of them hurt, but the first bad memory of her dad was the worst.

_**Flashback**_

"_G-Gina... I-I don't know what I did wrong.. I.. I l-loved h-her.. I didn't do anything to hurt her.. W-why did she have to... D-die..?" Gina's father sobbed as he looked down at the girl sitting next to him at the couch._

_Gina, who had learned a lot of words by the age of 3 was looking at her father sadly. She didn't remember her mother, but she could see that her father loved her very much, and her dying was not his fault. "It's not your fault, daddy.."_

_Suddenly, her father got a dark look on his face and glared at her. "No... It's not.. IT'S YOUR FAULT!!" He yelled suddenly and slapped her. Gina gasped and tears began to roll down her cheeks. _

_**End Flashback**_

Gina shut her eyes closed hard trying to get rid of all those horrible memories, but it didn't work. Memory by memory came back at her.

_**Flashback**_

_Gina ran into the house. She had been out buying food to make dinner for her and her father and the man selling her stuff didn't believe she was old enough to buy some of the stuff she was going to buy. She had argued with him, saying her father wanted it, but the man just shook his head and said that if he wanted it, he had to come and buy it himself. This caused two things; Gina was late and she didn't get her father's favorite snacks._

_Gina quickly took off her shoes and her jacket and walked as fast as she could into the kitchen. Her father was sitting there, with a glass of some serious alcohol in his right hand, glaring at her. "Where have you been? I said I wanted you back 15 minutes ago!" He yelled and slapped her. Even though she got this treatment from her father at a daily basis, she never got used to the pain it caused, but she learned to get ready for the hit whenever she could feel that she had done something wrong. She held her gasp of pain in when he slapped her and didn't let the tears fall. Her father was taking all of the groceries out of the bag, trying to find his favorite snack, but he didn't find it. "Where is my snack!?" He yelled and slapped her again, at the same cheek, but with more strength. _

_Now Gina wasn't able to hold her tears in as they fell from her eyes. "I-I'm sorry father! T-the man s-selling it didn't l-let m-me buy it, s-since it has a-alcohol in it. H-he s-said you had to b-buy it y-yourself, I-I tried to convince him, b-but it didn't work! That's why I got home late.." She said and looked down, not wanting him to see her tears.._

_**End flashback**_

Gina had been 8 years old then. She got bruises, but people assumed that she had just fell and scarred her face while playing.. But that was just stupid, she didn't have the time or chance to play with any kids.. She didn't have any friends before she started working at the hotspring. All the people working there were older than her though. They were all in their 20s, while she was 15 years old.

Gina hadn't noticed, but tears had fallen from her eyes and slid down her face and onto her pillow. Somebody took her right hand in hers and she took her other hand away from her face and looked at Taku. She smiled slightly and he brushed away her tears with his thumb.

Sakura smiled and walked over to her bed, with Naruto following her. "I should get going, people will start to question where I've been. But if there's anything, don't hesitate to ask after me downstairs, okay?" Sakura said and Gina nodded, and she looked at Taku and Naruto who nodded as well. "Well, it's getting late, so you should get to bed, the next part of the exam is tomorrow. But Gina, please, If you're feeling sick tomorrow, please don't fight. It's going to make it all worse. In the mean time, I will try to figure out what's wrong with you.. But, do you have any idea how you might have gotten sick?" Sakura asked.

Taku looked at her. "It happened right after we met her actually.. We don't know the reason, but we were fighting some guys, and they had all sorts of gas and poison. It might be one of those things.." Taku said and Sakura nodded.

"Well, I'll work out of that for now, but if you remember anything else, please tell me, okay?" She asked and they all nodded. Sakura then leaned down and hugged Gina. "You should get some rest."

Gina smiled slightly, tiredness showing in her eyes. "Thanks Sakura.." She said and closed her eyes, before falling asleep.

Sakura smiled and leaned over the bed to give Taku a hug. She really had become a hugging person when she met Naruto's new friends. It felt so natural. She never acted like this around the other boys or girls in her age group.. She then turned to Naruto and he helped her up on her feet and walked her to the door and Sakura gave him a quick hug. "Don't let her push herself tomorrow. There was a lot of blood that she coughed up and I'm really worried about her." She said and Naruto and Taku nodded. Sakura smiled and left the room.

-.-.-.

"_He has no right to be in this village!"_

"_That's right! He killed hundreds of our men and our most powerful and greatest Hokage!"_

"_He should die!"_

"_He will NOT die!" _

"_What are you saying Hokage-sama?! He killed so many people of our village 13 years ago!"_

"_He was not the one killing them! He is just the container of the Kyuubi, not the demon itself!"_

"_How can you support that... that... DEMON!?"_

Naruto awoke with suddenly and sat up just as he woke up. He was drenched in sweat and was breathing heavily. He used his right hand and dragged it through his now slightly wet hair and took a deep breath._ 'Those memories don't ever stop, do they..?'_

_-.-.-._

Finally it's up! Please Review and tell me what you think! Now I have to go to bed, so night!


	13. Chapter 13

The Still Living Dream

**A/N: **Happy Holidays! Whenever your starts! Mine starts the 19th.. But before that I have a few tests in school and some other stuff, so I think this will be the last chapter for this year. I hope you have a great Christmas with friends and family, happy new year as well!

Hopefully I will be able to have written a little something for Christmas or new year, but I'm not so sure if I'll be able to do that.. We'll see!

BTW, the song Gina played on Piano in the last chapter was 'Be destined' or 'Illusion' from Ah! My Goddess.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto.

* * *

"Attention! All Genin and all instructors come into the arena in 1 hour!" A voice said over the speaker and Naruto walked over to Gina's bed. She was still sleeping and Taku was currently in the bathroom. He gently touched her shoulder.

"Gina..? Are you awake?" He asked softly and Gina cracked open a eyes and smiled softly.

"Yeah, I am." She said and looked around. "Taku's not here?"

"He's in the bathroom." Naruto said and Gina cursed.

"Dammit.." She said and sat up slowly. "Now there's probably going the smell like... Ugh... In the there when I first get the chance to take a shower..." She said and shook her head lightly.

Naruto chuckled slightly. "Are you feeling okay?"

Gina smiled. "Better then I use to, actually. I guess because Sakura healed my throat and chest/stomach area after I took my medicine yesterday eased the pain more then I thought.. I feel like a new person!" She said and grinned widely while putting her hands on her waist.

* * *

Taku turned the shower on and walked into it. The water ran down his body as he leaned against the wall. He closed his eyes and tried to remember. All those voices in his head kept on rambling on stuff he already knew, never saying anything he needed to know. What happened before he met Naruto and Gina a few years ago? All he could remember was waking up, not knowing anything about himself. He soon figured out his name was Taku and that he was some sort of ninja after looking at a few letters.. He didn't know more then that. He decided to walk around in the city and spotted a hot spring. He then met Naruto and Gina.. But what happened before he woke up?!

Taku hit the wall with his fist and placed his forehead against it a few seconds later. He had used these past years trying to remember, but without any luck. He sighed and gave up. He washed his hair and his body before he stepped out of the shower, dried off and put on his clothes.

* * *

"Brrr..... Damn Taku...." Gina said as she quickly jumped out of the shower. He had used up all the hot water and Gina used only 5 minutes in the shower. Normally, she would use at least 30 minutes. She put on her clothes, used a perfume that smelled really good and put on her cross necklace. She then walked out of the bathroom and saw Naruto and Taku waiting for her. She glared at Taku and he laughed slightly.

"Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts while I was showering."

"Yeah right.." Gina muttered and went over to her bed and took her medicine. She then turned to Taku and Naruto. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" She said and walked over to the door.

"You sure you're feeling alright?" Naruto asked and closed the door from behind her. She narrowed her eyes slightly and turned to him.

"Yes."

Naruto sighed, "Alright, but let us know if somethings up, alright?" Gina smiled softly and nodded. The three of them then walked out of their room and to the arena.

* * *

"Sakura-san, is something wrong, you seem to act different.." Shizune asked Sakura as they walked into the arena of the Tower.

Sakura cleared her throat. She hated lying to those who believed in her and trusted in her, but Naruto made her promise not to tell anyone. "I.. I'm fine, I've just been.. busy... you know... with.. training and everything while helping out in this Chuunin exam." Sakura said and looked at Shizune who seemed to believe her, besides, it wasn't entirely a lie.. "And you don't have to address me as '-san' Shizune-san."

Shizune chuckled, "Well, you don't have to address me with '-san' either. Deal?" She asked and Sakura chuckled and nodded.

"Deal."

"What are you working so hard on by the way. I haven't seen you studying this hard in quite a while." Shizune asked.

Sakura smiled. "I'm not quite sure to be honest. I've found out about a sickness that isn't like any other I've seen, and it's not written about it in any books in either the library or in Tsunade-sama's office... I'm hoping to be able to figure out a way to cure it.. But first I need to know more about the sickness, and I can't do that right now..." She said. She had to get more information from Gina herself and Taku and Naruto about how to sickness act's and how it has it's toll on Gina's body.

"Oh, it's sounds like quite a challenge. If you ever need any help, I will always be willingly to help you, I'm sure Tsunade-sama is too." Shizune said and smiled while hugging Tonton to her chest.

Sakura smiled, "Thank you, Shizune." Sakura said and Shizune smiled at her.

"Sakura, Shizune, could you two come over here for a minute?" Tsunade asked. She was standing by the rail and looking down onto the ground. Sakura and Shizune walked up to her and stood on either side of her. "They say there's a man looking just like Yondaime taking the exam.. Do you know who it is?" She asked, and just in that second, people started walking through the doors and walked into the room.

"No, Tsunade-sama. I don't. But I've heard that as well. I also heard he denied it though." Shizune said. Sakura knew that if she said anything, Tsunade would understand something was up, so she decided to just nod. After all, it was definitely **not** the Yondaime.

"I have a weird feeling about that guy.. I just can't place it.. ANBU!" She said and two ANBU guards appeared behind her. Sakura's eyes widened.

"Hai, Hokage-sama?" the two guards said.

"You see that blond man over there?" She asked and they nodded. "I want you to look at him carefully. I have a strange feeling."

"Do you sense a threat, Hokage-sama?" The guard to her right asked.

"..No.. I don't." Tsunade said as she looked at the boy.

"Then what makes you put us to this task?" The one to the left asked.

Tsunade sighed. "I feel like I have seen him... or know him.. I just can't place him anywhere. However, if he does anything suspicious, then stop him from doing so. But do not kill him." She said.

"Hai!" The guards said and disappeared.

Tsunade sighed. "Well, I just go down there. It's time for my speech." Tsunade said and walked down the stairs.

* * *

Naruto, Taku and Gina walked into the room and Naruto grinned. It was quite some time since he had been here. Gina noticed his grin and smiled. "Good to be back?" She asked and Naruto nodded.

They started walking towards the other side of the room and Naruto caught somebody looking at him out of the corner of his eyes. He smiled when he saw that it was Sakura, along with Tsunade and Shizune. Tsunade seemed to be talking to somebody but her eyes were on Naruto. _'Probably some guards or something..'_ he thought and looked at Taku who was nearly glaring daggers at him.

Naruto looked at him with an raised eyebrow. "What?"

"How come you get all the girls?" Taku asked and crossed his arms.

Naruto nearly fell over. "What?!"

"And you do nothing!" Taku added.

"What are you talking about?!" Naruto nearly yelled at him. Sure, he had a few... he hated to admit it.. Fan girls.. But he didn't get all the girls.. He never picked out one in particular!

"You have all these girls looking at you and throwing themselves at you, but you don't do anything! You just push them away!" Taku exclaimed. His eyes then widened. "Are you gay?" He then whispered quietly.

"What!?" Naruto yelled, "No!"

"It's called respecting women and giving them privacy." Gina said, defending Naruto.

Taku rolled his eyes. "What's your strategy?" He asked, ignoring what they had said.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"What's your strategy! What do you do to have them throw themselves at you?!" He asked and Naruto shook his head.

"I don't know! I guess I'm just nice to them!" Naruto said and Taku chuckled.

"Yeah right! Most girls like bad guys! And I'll prove it to you!" Taku said and suddenly walked off. Naruto looked confused at the place where he had been standing before looking at him. His eyes widened when he realized who he was walking towards.

"No, not her, you'll get your ass kicked back to the day you were born!" He said to himself.. But it was too late. Taku was punched all the way to the other side of the room. Naruto, along with everyone else winced, but Naruto couldn't help but chuckle as he walked over to the body of Taku, which seemed to be punched to jelly. Naruto bent down slightly and looked at Taku with a smirk on his face.

"Alright.. Some girls might not be into bad guys.." Taku trailed off.

"I was going to stop you, but it was too late." Naruto said and Taku sighed. "Did I forget to mention that she is super strong?" Naruto started off in a matter of fact tone, before it started to get a little higher and more dramatic. "Or that she is like 57 years old, or that she is the HOKAGE?!" He yelled slightly, but only loud enough for Taku to hear. You could see Taku get a paler look on his face and he shook his head.

"Ugh.." He said, then tried to stand up. "Well, for my defense.... She looked like she was like.. 20." He said and fell to the floor again, not able to get up by himself.

Naruto laughed and helped him up. "Yeah.. She sure gets that a lot." They managed to go back to where the group were standing. They walked in the middle of the crowd and stood there. You could see Tsunade sigh, taking a deep breath to calm herself down before staring to talk.

"Alright, I guess we can start now. It seems like all of you are here. First of all, I want to congratulate all of you to come this far. I am the Hokage. I'm happy to say, that this year we have both the Kazekage and the Mizukage here to watch the competition. On behalf of the village and everybody else, I want to say good luck." Tsunade said and looked over at Sakura and Shizune. "If there is anyone who has any injuries or feel like they wont be able to go on, you should tell us now and you'll get healed right away." Tsunade said and just as she finished, Naruto lost his grip on Taku and he fell to the floor.

Naruto and Gina laughed slightly before helping him up to his feet again. "That hurt!" Taku said and glared at Naruto.

"It wasn't my fault!" Naruto said and held Taku standing with Gina.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything about it. "If you choose to back out your teammates will still be in the competition." Tsunade finished and a few people raised their hands. They were asked to go out of the room and they got medical attention right away. Tsunade looked over at Taku, wondering why he didn't raise his hand. She had dislocated his shoulder and she might even have broken a few bones. Sure, the kid might have been rude to her, but she did put him in that state. Sakura and Shizune seemed to have noticed this as well, but Sakura seemed more worried than she would normally do. Of course, she was always worried about her patient. But it almost seemed that she knew him. Tsunade shook it off and looked at the black haired kid again. "Well, the rest of you can go up the stairs over there." Tsunade said and pointed to the stairs, "And watch from up there when you aren't fighting. There will be both Chuunin, Jounin and Kage's watching the matches, so if anything goes wrong, we will take care of it quickly." Tsunade said.

Gina touched Taku's arm and he winced in pain. "That hurt dammit!" He said and looked at Gina who had a bemused look on her face, which was almost turning into a smile.

"Well that's not my fault." She stated in a matter of fact tone.

Naruto looked at her, "Technically, you were the one touching his dislocated arm." Naruto said and Gina looked at him. She then sighed.

"Fine, part of it was my fault." She said. "We'll have to get it back into place though, you can't fight with it like that. I don't understand why you didn't raise your arm!" Gina said and put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes on him.

"Well, seeing that I'm holding myself up with my left hand and my right hand is dislocated... How the HELL am I suppose to raise my arm without getting into even more pain?!" He asked.

"Ah, you're right.. Well, We'll just have to locate it into the right place then!" Gina said and grabbed Taku's shoulder. He winced and yelled at her but Gina didn't bother listening.

"Is he alright?" Shizune took a few steps forward and asked. Gina and Naruto looked at each other, then at Shizune.

"He'll live." They said together. Shizune nodded slightly before taking a few steps back. It was in that moment Naruto realized just how many of the people he knew were in the room. Nearly all of his friends that were ninja were in there. Everyone from Tsunade to Gai-sensei. Naruto looked over at Sakura who were standing with Tsunade and Shizune and she smiled slightly at him. Naruto sighed and smiled back at her. This was the perfect time and place to tell everyone that he was here. It'd be hard to get a hold of everyone after the exam.

The smile exchange didn't go unnoticed by either Shizune or Tsunade though. But before either of them could ask her about it, Gina began talking to Taku. "Alright, you ready?" She asked and Taku shook his head no. "Oh come on, I'll count to ten and then I'll do it. That way you can brace yourself. Ok?" She asked and Taku eventually nodded. Gina smiled.

"You'll count to 10?" Taku asked just to be sure.

"Yes." Gina replied.

"You promise?" Taku asked again, but Gina didn't answer. Instead she started counting.

"1...2...3...4-Hey, isn't that Jessica Alba?!" She yelled off to the left and Taku immediately looked that direction and Gina quickly located his shoulder back to it's right place. Taku then screamed in pain.

Naruto raised his eyebrows and looked at Taku screaming before turning to Gina. "Good timing." He said and High-fived her."

Gina smiled. "I know."

"Y-YOU!" Taku yelled. "You said you'd count to 10!" Taku yelled and got up before pointing at her, suddenly finding new strength.

"I didn't promise anything." Gina said and walked towards the stairs.

Taku turned towards Naruto and he shrugged his shoulders before walking towards the stairs as well. "I swear, you guys are crazy!" He yelled and followed them towards the stairs. On the way Naruto bumped into a man who seemed to be in his 30s. The man got a shocked look on his face and stumbled backwards.

"Dude, he's not the 4th Hokage, no need to look so shocked." Taku said, but the shock on the man's face still remained on his face. He fell to the ground and pointed at Naruto.

"Y-Y-You!" He yelled and Naruto though he noticed who he really was. "I-it's t-t-true! You're the Red Fang!" The guy yelled and Naruto raised his eyebrows. The man then got up and ran out of the building while yelling, "Aaaah! Don't kill meee!"

Naruto stared at the place where the man had fallen back and accused him for being the 'Red Fang' or whatever he called him. Taku raised an eyebrow and looked at Naruto. "What did you ever do to that guy to make him so terrified of you?" he asked. "And what is all this 'Red Fang' crap?"

"I have no idea.." Naruto said and shook his head before walking up the stairs.

Gina stopped about in the middle of the upper floor so they could have a good view of the fights. Naruto leaned against the wall while Taku started warming up his now located arm again. Suddenly a hand was at the side of Naruto's head and a body very dangerously up against his. He opened his eyes to look straight into a pair of brown eyes. She leaned onto his body leaned her mouth next to his ear. "Well Gaki, it's really you. Who would have known." She whispered and let her tongue flick his earlobe ever so slightly. He didn't seem faced by her action but nodded his head instead. "You could be thrown out, you know." She said but Naruto laughed slightly.

"Don't worry. I've got it all covered.. Except for the part where I eventually have to tell everybody I'm actually here..." Naruto trailed off.

Anko laughed. "Hah, I'm not worrying." She said and pulled away and looked up at him. Yes, up at him. Naruto had gotten taller then her. Not much, maybe just an inch or two, but she still had to look up to look him in the eyes. "Well would you look at that. You've gotten taller then me." She said grinned. Naruto smiled slightly, but didn't say anything. He didn't like that grin of hers. He had seen it on her way too many times just to get embarrassed, blood drawn from his cheek or other things like that. Anko then looked down slightly and smirked. "Well, I see you've changed up your style.. I like it!" She said and hit him lightly at his stomach and smirked. "Do I feel a six-pack?" She looked up at him and saw that nothing she had done so far had affected him the way she wanted it to. In fact he was smirking slightly. She then looked even lower and smirked. She found the perfect way to get him to react. She leaned he body against his again, her mouth by his ear again and said in a bit of a husky tone, "I bet you're bigger down there now too, huh?" She said and she could feel his body stiffen.

_'Bulls eye!' _She thought and leaned back to look at his face. She laughed when she saw it..

"How in the world would you know any of that?" Naruto asked and looked at her.

Anko smirked, "Oh, I have my sources." she said and winked at him before walking away.

Naruto sighed and shook his head and leaned against the railing. He could feel somebody stare at him and turned his head to see basically everyone in the room staring at him. He sighed again and looked at Taku who were again glaring at him. "I just can't understand it!" He said and huffed.

Naruto shook his head and closed his eyes before muttering, "Neither do I.."

Suddenly Anko was behind Taku with a kunai at his throat. It took some time to realize for him, but she suddenly licked his cheek clean from blood. He stood there frozen as she winked at him and walked away.

Anko walked over to Ibiki and leaned against the wall. Ibiki chuckled. "I guess you found out as well, huh?" He asked and Anko nodded. "You know, acting like that around him will make the others wondering what the hell's going on."

"I'm just having a little fun with the Gaki, alright? No one's gonna question anything." Anko said.

"Anko, care to explain who that was and why you did that to him?" Anko turned her head to look at the person who had talked to her and raised her eyebrows.

"Well, I thought I'd talk to him a bit, trying to find out if he's my type, you know." Anko said and closed her eyes.

"...And?" Anko turned to look at Kurenai. "Was he?"

"Nah.." Anko answered.

"Was he too young for you?" Ibiki asked and laughed.

"No, it's not that, in fact, I would-" Anko said but the speaker interrupted her.

"The first fight will start shortly." The speaker said, which seemed to be voiced by some random Chuunin.

"Hah, No one asking anything my ass!" Ibiki whispered in Anko's ear and Anko smirked at him.

"First fight is between...." The Chuunin said and looked at the screen. The screen landed on two names and the Chuunin made them come down and face each other. It seemed to be two pretty young people, probably around 11-14 years old. One from the Konoha and one from Kiri. Both were boys and they showed great skills in what seemed to be their nature element. It was fire against water, where the Konoha nin had the fire element, and the Kiri ninja won after a few minutes. The Konoha nin had been hit face on with a water attack and hit the wall, knocking him out.

The screen then started rolling again and stopped at two names. "Gina Masa - Kiyoshi Rafu!" The Chuunin said and the boy who appeared to be Kiyoshi walked down the stairs and down to the battling floor. Gina was still standing where she was since the 2nd part of the exam had started while she was filing her nails. She felt people staring at her and looked up with a confused look on her face. She looked at the screen, put the file away and sighed. She then jumped down to the battling floor, got in front of the boy who was a 17 year old from Wave as well. Gina shook her head and sighed before pulling her long blond hair up into a ponytail and taking out her earrings and putting them in her pocket. She then placed her hands on her waist and raised her eyebrow at the boy she was facing. He was staring at her in a very... perverted way.

"Hey, what do you say, hotspring, me, you, naked?" The boy asked and winked at her.

Gina rolled her eyes and looked at the Chuunin exam proctor. "Could we start now, I've got a smart ass' ass to kick."

The look on the boy's face changed to a more angry look. "You're rejecting me?" He asked and Gina looked at him and narrowed her eyes while thinking _'Eww..' _"No one is rejecting me! I am THE MAN! I always get what I want!"

Gina flashed him a innocent smile and titled her head slightly to the right. "Well.. Now you don't."

"You are such a wh-"

"BEGIN!" The Chuunin proctor decided to but in and start the match before it became a word fight and not a ninja fight.

The boy seemed to have become very angry at the rejection he got and started running towards Gina with his fist out ready to hit her. Gina sighed, _'He already revealed his way of fighting..'_ She thought and just as his fist was about to hit her head she disappeared. The boy stumbled forwards but managed to stop himself from falling.

"Where the hell are you!? Come out and fight!" He yelled but was suddenly pushed back by something he couldn't see. He looked around confused but had to hold his stomach after getting hit once again. He held his arms in front of him, predicting the next hit would also come to his front. He was caught off guard again when he felt an enormous pain on the left side of his head. He quickly put his hand up to his head but wincing and pulling his hand away again and saw it had quite a lot of blood on it. His eyes became huge as he began to get scared. He then felt several hit's to both his head and stomach, but he wasn't ready for the one that came to his crotch, and started falling down to the ground. However, before his knees touched the ground Gina appeared in front of him and lifted her hand, pumping chakra into it making lightning showing and punched him in his chest. He flew backwards and hit the wall behind him.

"Ugh.." He let out and his eyes almost rolled to the back of his head. Gina appeared a few feet away from him and threw kunai at his clothes making him stick to the wall. She then walked slowly towards him with another kunai in her right hand. She appeared right in front of him, raised her kunai and brought it forward. The Chuunin proctor was trying to stop it but he didn't make it..

Gina placed the kunai just an inch away from his crotch. "You do not talk to a girl like that. And _especially not a girl who has her freaking __period!_" She said and slapped him hard in the face before walking away. The Chuunin exam proctor looked at the boy who were hanging from the wall and sighed.

"The winner is Gina Masa." He said and thanked god it wasn't him fighting that girl.

"I prefer that you just call me Gina." Gina pointed out before walking up the stairs again.

Anko smirked. "I like her." she said to herself.

"You like everybody that act's like you." Ibiki pointed out and smirked back at her.

The screen started rolling again and it stopped on two names. "Hide Gin – Uzumaki Naruto."

_'What the hell?! My name's not supposed to- oh, that's right, I wrote it on the first test... Dammit..'_ Naruto thought before sighing and jumping off and onto the floor. When he landed he could feel a sword at his throat from behind and an ANBU was standing in front of him with his sword at his chest.

"Uzumaki Naruto, if you move we'll kill you." The ANBU said calmly.

Naruto sighed again, _'Dammit..'_

* * *

Chapter 13! Please review and tell me what you think. I'm planning on having Anko teasing and trying to embarrass Naruto and stuff, so don't get freaked out and think that the story went from NaruSaku to NaruAnko! It **hasn't** and **will not**!


	14. Chapter 14

The still living dream

**A/N;** HAPPY NEW YEAR! Sorry for the delay! I've been fighting off a lot of sickness these weeks, along with trying to get used to medicines and such + school has started again.

**Thank you;** Kiiroi Senko, Gravenimage, Believeit6, Kaiser Spartan, heartlessgroom, totaltheTERRIER, chickenman00712, RealyManlyPimps, c im am a dragon, Quick-n-Popular, Neko4, JonJ, kira553

**DISCLAIMER;** I do not own Naruto, however, some of the characters in this story are mine!

* * *

_'Dammit...'_ Naruto cursed in his head as he felt a sword at his throat from behind and an ANBU was standing in front of him with his sword at his chest. He sighed and was about to speak but suddenly Taku appeared behind the ANBU that was standing in front of Naruto and he had his own sword at the ANBU's throat, and he could feel Gina's chakra behind him, probably holding her sword at the ANBU's throat as well.

"Remove your swords at this point or we will not hesitate to kill you." Gina said as both her and Taku's killing intent became stronger than the ANBU's thought.

"Everyone! Drop your swords!" The Hokage yelled, and eventually, as the ANBU's dropped their swords, Gina and Taku took their swords away and put them back into their veil. While all of this happened, Naruto scratched his forehead and sighed.

"...Maybe this would be a good time to explain everything..?" Naruto quietly asked himself and Gina and Taku looked at him.

"Yah think?" They asked, while the ANBU's were looking at him.. Maybe even glaring at him, but he wouldn't know, because of the masks they wore.

Naruto sighed again and looked up to where Tsunade, the two elders of the council, Sakura and Shizune stood. He closed his eyes and laughed. "Hey Baa-chan!" He yelled and everybody nearly fell off the railing. Some even started laughing.

Naruto then suddenly disappeared and appeared in front of Tsunade with a grin on his face. She stared at him. "Naruto..?" She asked and Naruto nodded with the grin never leaving his face.

"He's lying!" Homaru yelled and pushed him backwards. "He would never dare to put his foot back into this village! Who are you working for!? Who are you!" Naruto raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm not working for anyone." Naruto said. "And I am Naruto Uzumaki."

"Prove it!" Koharu said with her arms crossed.

Naruto sighed, "Alright.." He said, zipped up his jacket showing his sleeveless white shirt. He then pulled something up from under his shirt. It was a necklace with a green stone.

"Where did you get that! It's only two left in the whole world!" Koharu yelled and tried to snatch it away from his neck, but Naruto moved.

"I gave it to him." A voice said and Koharu and Homaru looked at Tsunade like she was crazy. Tsunade smiled at Naruto. "I gave it to him. It's Naruto."

"Why are you here?! We banished you from this village 5 years ago!" Homaru said and narrowed his eyes at Naruto. "Are you here for revenge?! Is that it!?" He yelled at Naruto with his finger pointed at him.

"No." Naruto answered bored. "Why would I?" He asked and looked at both Homaru and Koharu. "After what happened with Orochimaru that year, the security here should be better then ever. Besides, there's people here that I love. I would never do anything to hurt them." Naruto said and looked at Tsunade, Shizune and Sakura. "Besides... I'd be doomed.." he said and shook his head.

"Who's responsible for you?" Koharu asked.

Naruto sweat dropped. "I'm 18, I think I'm pretty much responsible for myself."

Koharu gave him a glare. "I mean which village are you in?" She asked and looked at him. Suddenly, the Mizukage laughed out loud.

"Haha! I guess I'm in charge of him!" He said and kept on laughing.

"What's so funny, Mizukage-sama?" Shizune asked politely.

He stopped laughing after a short while and wiped away the tears that had formed in his eyes by all the laughing. "I-it's just that- he would never become a part of another village, even if you gave him thousands of dollars. I owe him and his friends a favor after he helped me with a personal matter. He's talented, I don't know why you're pushing him away, you have to be insane." He said and ruffled Naruto's hair.

"Stop it!" he said and pushed him away. The Mizukage gave him a playful glare and Naruto just rolled his eyes.

"As a banished person from this village, you are not allowed to come into this village. ANBU! Kill him!" Koharu yelled and the ANBU's looked at Tsunade.

"You know, in the rules, an Shinobi is allowed to go to the village he was banished from as an ninja of another village." Naruto said. "If you kill me, it'll most likely go to war." He then stated.

"..Naruto-kun, I thought you said you weren't a part of any other village." Shizune asked.

"I'm not, but I'm representing Wave." Naruto said.

"That's true, he has all right to be here." Tsunade said with a smile on her face. "Naruto, when this part of the exam is finished, I want you to come to my office." Naruto nodded then jumped down on the floor where his opponent was standing. Tsunade turned to Sakura. "You knew didn't you?"

Sakura looked down at the floor. "..N-no...." She then looked up at Tsunade, "Alright I did!" She said and sighed. "I'm sorry Shishou, but he made me promise not to tell anyone. He wanted to tell everyone himself."

Tsunade smiled softly at her before looking at Naruto who had positioned himself in front of his opponent. "It's alright Sakura, I understand."

Naruto looked at his opponent. She was probably not older than 13-14 years old, she had brown hair and brown eyes. She was staring at him. "What was that about?" She asked, her eyebrow raised.

Naruto shook his head. "Just some complications about if or if not I'm allowed back into the village. I was banished because I was a 'threat' to Konoha or something like that." Naruto said and got into his stance, ready to fight.

The girl stared at him, before quickly raising her head and looking at the Chuunin exam proctor. "I forfeit!" She said, the proctor nodded his head and the girl started walking out of the room. Naruto looked at her confused and looked at the proctor who just shrugged his shoulders and looked back at the screen. Naruto let his head fall as he sighed and began to walk up the stairs again.

When he came to the top of the stairs he saw three people running towards him before jumping at him. "Naruto Nii-chan!" They yelled and Naruto fell to the floor. Naruto looked at the three kids like they were insane before he noticed who they were. He grinned widely and ruffled Konohamaru's hair.

"Hey you guys!" He said and laughed when they started talking in each other mouths. He couldn't really get what they were talking about, but he caught a few words. "Take it easy you guys! I don't get anything of what you are saying." He said and laughed again when they all glared at each other. "You guys became Genin! And taking the Chuunin exams! That's awesome! Who's your sensei?" He decided to ask, to stop them glaring at each other. A man appeared behind them.

"I am." He said and Naruto looked up at him.

"...The closet pervert..?" Naruto asked. Konohamaru started laughing while Ebisu glared at him.

"I am no pervert!" He yelled causing Konohamaru to laugh even more.

Naruto stood up and walked over to him. "Right, I'm sorry. Looks like you've helped them come far. Keep doing that." He said and Ebisu nodded before placing his hand on Naruto's shoulder.

"You're their inspiration. I never really realized why before you got banished... Now I understand. I feel like a fool really."

Naruto stared at him. "Okay.. Thanks..."

"Moegi Nozomi VS Shima Yukata." The screen then showed and Moegi tensed. Naruto looked at her worriedly.

"Moegi-chan, You'll be okay! You'll kick his butt!" Konohamaru said while Udon smiled and nodded at her. Moegi smiled unsure and walked down the stairs and faced her opponent.

"Why did she tense like that?" Naruto asked.

"Shima is rumored to kill everyone who stands in his way. He and his team killed another team inside the forest, which kind of proved it. His two teammates forfeited though, due to some injuries. Moegi-chan witnessed them kill the other team, which is probably why she's a little scared of facing him." Udon explained and Naruto nodded, before smiling at them.

"No matter what happens, no one is going to get killed here. The Chuunin proctor will stop the fight if some signs of that happening happens and there's a lot of people who can jump in and save anyone if there's need of it." Naruto explained and looked down at Moegi who looked up at them while shaking slightly. Naruto smiled and winked at her, which made her give a small smile and straightened her back.

"Begin!" The Chuunin proctor yelled and Shima started running towards Moegi. He pulled out a kunai and threw it at her. Moegi jumped back and threw her own kunai at the kunai that was heading towards her, hitting it and making it falling to the ground. She then felt a piercing pain in her lower stomach. She looked down when her feet touched the ground and saw a kunai pierced into her stomach. She grunted and looked up to she Shima running towards her again, now holding a long sword. Her eyes widened and she quickly pulled the kunai out of her stomach and quickly placed her hand over the wound and threw the kunai at Shima. She then proceed with pulling out a few shuriken and threw them at him.

_'I'm having serious problems! He's a close range fighter, while I'm a long range fighter, that, and he's faster then me, making me not getting enough distance between us!'_ Moegi though a little panicked. Her stomach was also bleeding heavily. Suddenly she fell to the ground as her vision began to blur, she had lost too much blood to even stand up. Though her eyes was blurred, she saw Shima running towards her with his sword ready to strike, that was the last thing she remembered before she blacked out.

"DIE!!" Shima yelled and pushed his sword forward to her body.

* * *

Moegi struggled with opening her eyes, all she could see was a blur. She tried focusing and saw the back of a pink haired medic's hair. She tried to sit up but felt such pain in her lower stomach then she let out a yelp of pain and laid her head back down on her pillow. The nurse turned her head towards her and smiled brightly. "You're awake!"

"W-what h-happened to m-me?" She asked slowly.

"You were hit with a kunai while you were up in the air by Shima Yukata. You then lost so much blood that you passed out." Sakura explained and took a hair that was laying across Moegi's face behind her ear.

"Am I going to die..?" She asked slowly.

Sakura smiled reassuringly at her, "No, you'll be fine. Luckily, Naruto stopped the next blow that Shima tried to lay on you, and we had enough of your blood type stored here at the hospital."

"..Wait, hospital? How long have I been out?" Moegi asked, getting more and more strength with the minutes to talk.

Sakura turned around and looked at the clock. "Well.. You've been out for 12 hours. It's 21.30 now. You'll have to stay at the hospital for about a week before you can be sent home."

"Oh, okay." Moegi said yawned. Sakura smiled.

"Go back to sleep, you're tired." Sakura said and turned off the lights. "If you need anything or feel any pain, you can touch that button right there, and someone will come and help you shortly." Sakura said and Moegi nodded. "Good night." She said and closed the door.

* * *

Naruto walked onto the park and laid down on the grass. He looked up at the stars and smiled to himself. It was good to be back. He had missed everyone so much and it was good to see them again. He hadn't had the time to talk to a lot of people though. He smiled and looked at the lake, he felt like taking a swim right now. He stood up and removed his clothes down to his boxers and jumped into the lake. It was freezing, but it was very refreshing. As he walked up from the water he shook his head to dry his hair and then picked up the towel he was carrying with him and dried off himself before getting dressed again, and placing the towel around his neck. He then walked off to get something to eat.

As he walked down the street, a few people stared at him. Not because they knew who he was, but because He had placed his jacket around his waist, and his white sleeveless shirt cling to his body a little, due to him not entirely drying off himself, which showed his very nice six-pack. It seemed as if even girls who were out on dates with their boyfriends even stared at him, though he didn't notice it.

He kept walking until he saw a very familiar restaurant. He smiled and walked inn to see two of his friends sitting there. They turned around when they heard him enter and smiled when they saw him. "Naruto-kun!" Hinata said and smiled at him, while Kiba stood up and grinned at him.

"Well, if it isn't Naruto Uzumaki! Dude, it's good to have you back!" Kiba said and gave him a quick hug.

Naruto then turned and gave Hinata a hug which she returned and smiled, "Well, it's good to be back. For a while that is..." He said and smiled.

"What do you mean by that, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked and Naruto sighed.

"The only reason I managed to get myself back into the village legally is because I'm representing Wave. Also, I'll probably have to get out of the village within a month. I know there's a lot of people who hate me here, or rather what I have within me.."

"What?" Kiba asked and Naruto quickly saved himself.

"The point is, it'll be bad for both Baa-chan and you guys who are my friends." Naruto said but smiled at them. "But the great thing is that I was able to come and meet you guys!" He said and both Kiba and Hinata nodded.

"Ah! A new costumer! Is there anything I can get you?" A voice said behind them and Naruto turned around to look at Ayame.

"Sure! I'll get a Miso Ramen!" Naruto said and sat down, while Ayame just stared at him.

"..N-Naruto?" She asked and Naruto smiled and nodded. Before he knew it he was being crushed in a hug. "Oh my god! We've missed you so much!!"

"I've missed you too!" He said and laughed as she started jumping up and down with excitement.

"Daddy! Look who's here!" She said to her dad and he came out and looked at him before noticing who he was.

"Well, Naruto! It's been a while! You've grown quite a lot!" He said with a big smile on his face. "Whatever you order is free today!"

"Hah, thank you, Old man!" He said and sat down next to Hinata as Ayame began to work on his Miso. He turned to Hinata and Kiba. "So, are you guys on a date?" He asked and Kiba looked at him.

"How did you know?" He asked.

"Sakura-chan told me." Naruto answered and smiled at them.

"Yes, we have. For about 4 years now." Hinata said and smiled at Kiba, who smiled back at her and took her hand on the table.

Naruto ate only two bowls of Ramen, but that was because he was catching up with Hinata and Kiba. Though, after an hour, he decided to head back to the hotel. As he walked down the streets, his eye caught something, a person was walking down the same street as well. As he came a little closer he saw the pink hair and found out it was Sakura. "Sakura-chan!" He said and jogged towards her. She turned around and smiled when she saw him.

"Hey Naruto." She said and smiled.

"You're heading home?" Naruto asked and Sakura nodded.

"Yes, I just finished my work there. Moegi woke up but then went to sleep again just before I left." Sakura said.

"Well, I'll have to visit her tomorrow then." Naruto said and smiled. "Can I have the honor of walking you home?" He said in a very gentleman like voice.

Sakura giggled, "Of course you can!" She said and they both laughed and started walking. "Did you talk to Tsunade-Sama yet?" Sakura asked and Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, I went right after we got Moegi to the hospital."

_**Flashback**_

_Naruto knocked on the door and waited for a reply. "Come in!" He heard Tsunade say from the other side of the door and he walked inside. Tsunade was sitting at her desk with a few papers in front of her that she was signing. She looked up and smiled when she saw Naruto. "There you are Naruto." She said and stood up from her seat and walked over to the window and looked out at the village. Naruto walked over and stood next to her as she looked out at the village. "You know.." She began, "The reason I became Hokage was because of you." She said and Naruto looked at her. "If you hadn't been there with Jiraya, I wouldn't be the one who was Hokage now. You made me face my fears, which I'm thankful for." She said and smiled. "You have no idea how I was feeling when I wasn't able to stop you from being banished Naruto. I'm truly sorry." She said and looked down at the floor._

_Naruto smiled, "It's okay, It's not your fault."_

"_Yes it is Naruto!" Tsunade yelled and looked Naruto straight in the eyes, and Naruto realized that Tsunade was crying. "Everyone I gave that necklace to died, you didn't die, but something terrible happened to you. I feel guilty. I should have stopped it." She said._

_Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder. She was just slightly taller then him, she he almost looked right into her eyes. "I can understand why people reacted the way they did towards me. They watched their loved ones get killed right in front of them. When they heard that the Kyuubi was sealed inside of me, they thought I became the Kyuubi, or was the Kyuubi in a human form. The sorrow and anger towards the Kyuubi then came towards me. I'm not gonna lie, a long time I asked myself why everybody hated me, what I had done and why they did all of those things towards me, but when I learned of the Kyuubi, I understood." Tsunade was still looking at him with tears in her eyes. "The best thing you could do in that situation was to support me and make me have Jiraya with me for a year. That, and you looked at me as a person you hold dear to your heart, not the fox, and that's what you did. You did all you could and I'm thankful for that." _

_Tsunade smiled at him and pulled him into a hug that he returned immediately. He could hear her sobbing into his neck, so all he could do was to hug her even more. She was showing him a side of herself that not many people had seen. "I'll come back you know. Not even a rule can hold me away from this village. After all, I'm going to become Hokage someday." Naruto said and grinned at Tsunade who pulled away from the hug and smiled at him before putting her thumb on his chin and held his head and kissed his forehead. _

"_And I'm not going to go down as a Hokage until then." She said and smiled at him._

_**End Flashback**_

"It looks like she's doing a good job as the Hokage." Naruto said and smiled.

Sakura nodded, "Yes, she does. Since she's a medic she want everyone to have a safe and healthy home, she's made sure there has been made more buildings, the orphanages has gotten bigger, better, cleaner and gotten new owners who loves children. She is also working on making everyone get enough money that they need by helping them get a job, and if they are too old for a job, she gives money to them. That, and there has been much less death on missions after she became Hokage."

"That's great! I know there's been quite a few streets that were dangerous before and people who didn't have either a place to live or anything to eat and drink.. It's great that she's fixing that."

As they walked towards Sakura's house, the wind started to blow and Naruto saw Sakura shiver slightly. He took his jacket from his waist and placed it around her. "Here, you look cold." He said and held it on her body until she took it on.

"Thank you.." She said and blushed when he didn't remove his left hand from her back. He was stroking her back to make her warmer, which she found very nice of him.

As they kept walking, Sakura's house came into sight with a few lights in the windows and Sakura sighed when she saw her mother sitting next to one of them and watching the stars. "There's my mom..." She said and immediately looked down as she looked at them.

Naruto noticed this and looked at her, "Something wrong?" He asked as he stopped to stroke her back, but kept his hand there.

"I... I don't know honestly.. It's just that.." Sakura was trying to build up the courage to bring up the letter he sent her right after he left. She took a deep breath but still didn't look up at him. "After you left I was a mess, and when you sent me the letter, my mom found it and read it.. As you know, the Kyuubi killed my father and she was very uneasy when she heard that you were on my team. I guess she hasn't been really sure what to think of you, weather you are a boy who has the Kyuubi inside of you, or if you're the Kyuubi itself.. That lead to an argument between us and ever after that, whenever I mentioned you or you were mentioned, everything would become very awkward.." She said and sighed. "I just don't want to get into another argument with her over you, especially since you probably wont stay here that long.."

Naruto placed his right hand on her cheek and lifted her head up to look him into the eyes and he smiled at her. "Don't worry about it. We'll just have to spend as much time together as possible. And if an argument ever comes up, I'd like to talk to your mother. Actually I'd like to talk to her anyway, but I don't think this is the best time. But if anything is wrong, you can come to me, whatever the time is. I'll be staying at the hotel about 3 blocks away in room 122. Come by anytime." He said and she smiled at him and nodded.

They started to walk towards the door and they stopped just outside of it. Sakura slid his jacket off and gave it back to him. "Thank you for letting me borrow your jacket. Do you want to do something tomorrow?" Sakura asked and Naruto smiled.

"Sure! When are you free?" He asked.

"My shift at the hospital is finished at 10. Maybe we could go get lunch and maybe spar a little?" Sakura asked hopefully and Naruto smiled and nodded.

"Sure. I'll come by the hospital a little earlier so I can visit Moegi and we can go eat after that. How about it?" Naruto asked.

"That sounds good." Sakura said and hugged Naruto. When they pulled away she suddenly kissed his cheek. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow."

Naruto was blushing slightly while he held the cheek she kissed. "Yeah.. Sure.. See you then.."

_'Sakura-chan just kissed me on the cheek..'_

* * *

Another chapter finished! I'm sorry that Naruto didn't get to fight in this chapter, though when he spars with Sakura you'll get to see some of his skills! Please review and tell me what you think! Also, Right now I'm in the middle of the story where I'm not really sure about what's going to happen, so if you have any idea's, you can share them!


	15. Chapter 15

The still living dream

A/N; Sorry about the delay guys! I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I've gotten myalgic encephalopathy (ME) so basically.. I'm tired a lot, so I'm not on school a lot, and neither sitting on the computer a lot either. I know it's been like.. two or three months since last update, and I'm sorry! However, I hope you guys are still interested in this story!

Thank you; Gravenimage, davethedark, gwen araujo, c im am a dragon, kunaithower3000, Kiiroi Senko, chickenman00712, ElRusso, kira553, Getsuga Tensou, Patrick S, Marheavenchic, GintsukiKyu.

Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto!

* * *

"Sakura, who was that guy?" Sakura's mother asked her as she came into the house.

"Umm... A friend..?" Sakura answered and took off her shoes before walking into the kitchen to get a coup of hot chocolate.

Sakura's mother came into the kitchen to get another coup of coffee. "Really? Hmm.. I don't think I've met him before.. Is he a new friend?"

Sakura tensed a bit but caught herself before her mother could realize. "N-no.. We've been friends for a while.." She said and took a sip of her hot chocolate.

"Then why haven't I met him?"

"He's... been out of the village for a while." Sakura answered.

"Oh, so he's a ninja?" Her mother asked while taking another sip of her coffee.

"Yeah.. He is.." Sakura said and put her now empty coup down in the sink, "Well, I'm going to bed."

"What makes him so special?" Her mother asked and Sakura turned around with a look of confusion written over her face.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked her confused.

"What make you like him?" Her mother said.

"..Like him?"

"Oh, I saw that kiss you planted on his cheek, and his reaction. So, what makes you like him? What makes him so special? You haven't acted like that around anyone before."

"I.." Sakura looked down, trying to figure out what to say. Did she like him? Sure, she kissed his cheek, but it happened so fast that she barely knew it happened herself. She hugged him, yes, but she had started to hug all of her friends when she saw them. She hadn't seen his reaction, but still.. did she like him? "He... He understand me... And... He believes in me.. And I know I can trust him." Sakura then said as she looked up at her mother who sat in a chair with her legs crossed.

"What's his name?" Her mother and Sakura looked down at the floor again. How was her mother going to react to Naruto being back in the village? Would she hate him? Would she tell everybody else that he was back? And how would she react to Sakura's feelings towards him? She didn't know what they were herself, but she knew it was something.

Sakura looked up at the clock and saw the time. "I have an early shift at the hospital, I better get a few hours of sleep." Sakura said and quickly walked up to her room and fell asleep.

* * *

At 4.30 Sakura stood up from bed. She wanted to get out of the house as fast as possible to avoid any more questions from her mother. She quickly pulled on some warm clothes and looked at herself in the mirror. It had to do until she came to the hospital and could change. She quietly opened the door and walked down the stairs to the living room, she stopped though, when she heard a voice she didn't know. "I expect the money tomorrow, or you know what will happen!" The man said and Sakura could see her mother nodding very fast while sobbing. "Now, be quiet!" The man said and closed the door. Sakura's mother was sobbing quietly and holding around herself.

"Mom..?" Sakura said quietly and her mother jumped. "Who was that?" She asked.

"Oh.. Umm.. It's n-nothing.. Just.. I owe some money to this guy." Her mother answered shaken.

"Why?" Sakura asked but her mother shook her head and wiped away her tears.

"You're going to be late.. You should go.." She said and opened the door out. Sakura sighed and walked towards the door and hugged her mother before she walked out of the house.

* * *

"Hey, I'm here to take over the shift, you can go home." Sakura said to the nurse who she would be taking over the shift for. The nurse nodded and gathered her things before she left. Sakura sighed and began her paperwork that was on her desk. This was how her shifts usually were. Paperwork, write a profile of a patient or two, go check up on the patients, bring some patients a special kind of food due to their sickness and stuff like that. Luckily, this was one of her shorter shifts. She really looked forward to seeing Naruto again.

Naruto.. He was so nice to her.. He's always been nice to her. And all she'd do was yell at him and go after Sasuke. She regretted that deeply. He grew up with the whole village hating him and having no family.. And she made his life even worse by yelling at him and calling him stupid.. He has saved her life so many times, and she hadn't even thanked him.

She thought she loved Sasuke.. But she was 12, struck by a crush.. At first, she began to tell herself that Naruto just had a crush on her, that it wasn't anything else.. But then she got his letter..

That made even more questions for Sakura to try to answer. What is her feelings for Naruto? She can feel trust, admiration and she feels safe around him, but there's that other feeling she's never felt around anyone before that got her wondering what her emotions really are. That, and does Naruto still like her? Or has he moved on? After what Taku says, he's quite the ladies man.. And even Anko was drawn towards him, she even made him speechless and made him blush a little.. What were they talking about?

Talking about girls.. Maybe he even had a girlfriend.. He said he didn't really stay at one place for too long, due to the Akatsuki and the enemies he's made over the years. But.. Wouldn't he then bring her with him..? He is the kind of guy that want all his precious people stay safe.. But since the Akatsuki are after him.. maybe he told her that her coming with him would put her in danger.. That sounds more like how Naruto would act... Unless... Gina was his girlfriend..?

_'Sakura?'_

That would make sense, she can take care of herself, she can fight and is very smart.. But what about Taku? It seems like they have some kind of relationship!

_'Sakura...'_

After all, why would Naruto pick her anyway? There is way more beautiful women in Konoha then her. Just look at the slightly older generation! Shizune-san, Kurenai-sensei and Anko-sensei are in their mid 20s – late 20s and they look wonderful! Also, women like Ayame.. or.. Hinata and TenTen... Even Ino!

"Sakura!"

Sakura jumped slightly in her seat to look up at one of her best friends, Ino looking at her with a worried look on her face.

"Sakura, are you okay?" Ino asked and leaned over Sakura's desk to get a better look at her best friends eyes.

Sakura blinked a few times before shaking her head and placing her hand on her forehead. "No.. I mean.. Yes, I'm fine.." She said and looked up at Ino who still looked at her with a worried look on her face. "Why?"

Ino raised her eyebrows, "Well.. For one, you're nearly killing your desk with your pencil, you know, that is very hard to get off. 2nd is that you didn't answer me when I first yelled at you, I've been trying to get your attention for nearly 10 minutes! 3rd is that you look like you're ready to strangle someone."

Sakura just looked at Ino before looking down at her hands, they were tightened so bad the palm of her hand started to bleed from her nails digging into her skin and her knuckles were scarily white. She loosened her fists and looked down at her desk. She had just her pen to write names, draw and literally punch the desk until it had small holes in it. Luckily, she had written names and drew things over each other so no one could read it or figure out what she was thinking about. She herself hadn't even noticed this.

"I.." Sakura began and took a deep breath, "I just have more on my mind than usual." Sakura said and Ino seemed to buy it. "What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Oh, I didn't want anything, but I just came over to see if you're alright."

"Oh.. Thanks for getting me out of my thoughts.. I guess... I should get back to work.." Sakura said and looked at her enormous stack of paperwork and sighed before taking the first paper down. Ino looked at her.

"Do you want any help? I can do half of it. Besides, you can't get tired out by paperwork if you're going to go out on a date with Naruto later!" Ino said

"What? How did you know about us going to get something to eat?" Sakura looked up at narrowed her eyes at Ino.

Ino's eyes widened and she got a big grin on her face. "Oh! You are going out on a date with him! I knew it!"

"What? No Ino! It's not a date! We are just going to eat.. And talk.. You know, catch up. And besides, it's lunch, not dinner. Dinner is going over to.. you know.. dating.." Sakura said. "But yeah, I could use a little help with that, thank you." Sakura said and smiled slightly.

* * *

"Moegi Nozomi." Naruto said to the nurse and he got her room number before walking towards the direction she pointed in. As he walked towards her room, he saw Sakura step out of another room. "Sakura-chan!" Naruto said and Sakura looked up at him before smiling.

"Hey! You came on time I see." She said playfully.

"When haven't I?" Naruto asked her.

"Well, one of us will probably get Kakashi-sensei's bad habit, and it's not me." She said.

"Haha.." Naruto said with a bored face, but then chuckled for real. "Are you finished soon? I'm going to see Moegi now."

"Yeah, She's the last patient I have to check up on." Sakura said and they walked towards Moegi's room. When they walked inside they found her talking to Konohamaru and Udon. She smiled when she saw them and tried to get up, but felt pain in her whole body and laid back down. While Sakura did her job, taking her temperature, looking over her wounds and other stuff, Naruto had a conversation with Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon. Apparently, they wanted to wait 2 years before they tried to take the Chuunin Exam. This was their decision though, and with this, they could train longer and get some more training than those who went right into it after they began Genin.

When Sakura finished her work, Naruto and Sakura walked out of the room. Sakura walked up to her desk and looked at some of her papers. "..Hey Naruto?" Naruto looked at her as she read the paper that was in her hands. "How long is it since you got a medical check up?"

Naruto thought about it for a second, "Does when I was injured count?"

"No.."

"..Then it's probably around 5 years ago, when I got.." Naruto said and trailed off. Sakura looked at shocked.

"You haven't had a check up in 5 years!?" Sakura asked him and stared at him.

".. No..?" Naruto said confused.

"Well, then you should have one soon. Just to make sure everything is okay. Ninja's are supposed to have these at least once a year." Sakura said and looked down at her schedule. "I can do it at 10 AM, 3 days from now. Are you available?"

Naruto scratched the back of his neck while looking at Sakura. "Uhh... Sure."

"Great!" Sakura said and wrote his name down on the paper. "Oh.. Maybe I shouldn't write your name yet.. I'll just write.. Checkup-personal... People look at my schedule all the time.." Sakura said and looked at Naruto. "Well, I'm just going to go change, you can sit down over there in the meanwhile." Sakura said and Naruto nodded.

Naruto walked over to the couch that was against one of the walls in the lobby and sat down. Next to him were a small table where a few kids were playing. He looked at them and smiled. They were using small Lego people and playing ninja's. He laughed as they came into an argument about who died when Two of the kids used a technique. Suddenly the kids turned to Naruto. "Sir? Do you know which one of us won?" One of the kids asked. Naruto looked at all of them. There were 6 kids playing with each other, and the two who were arguing looked up at Naruto and waited for an answer. Naruto could see that both of them wanted to be the winner.

"Well, what kind of techniques did you two use?" Naruto asked and looked at the Lego people they were holding in their hands.

"I used a Fire technique and he used a wind technique." One of the kids said.

"Well.. Fire needs oxygen to burn, so because of that fire usually wins." Naruto said and the kid who had chosen a wind technique let his head fall. "I have the Wind element myself, and I've come into a few hard situations. Though, there are a few wind techniques that could stand up to fire techniques for a little while, enough to get away and then you could attack with another technique. If you have wind element, you have an easy access to the water element though, so if you meet a fire user in a battle, and you know a few water techniques, the fight should be easier." Naruto said and smiled when the kid who had previously hung his head down looking up at him with a bright smile.

"That's so cool! Do you know how to use the water element as well?" The kid asked.

Naruto chuckled, "Yeah, it's my second element. Though the wind element is the element where I know most techniques."

"Wow.." He heard the kids say and he chuckled again.

"I wanna be just like you!" One of the other kids say and Naruto smiled at him. "You seem really strong! You're a ninja, right? Have you kicked any bad guys butts?"

Naruto laughed at that last question and thought back at some of the people he fought against. "Yeah! He underestimated me, and I showed him what I really could do!"

Sakura was standing by her desk smiling. Naruto had always been good with kids, and the sight put a smile on her face every time. She grabbed her bag and walked over to Naruto who was now telling the kids a story from when he was on a mission.

"Oh, hey Sakura-chan!" Naruto said and smiled brightly when he saw her. Sakura smiled and Naruto stood up from his seat.

"Well, I have to go guys. Bye." He said and waved at them. Sakura smiled and waved at them as well.

Sakura chuckled slightly and Naruto turned around to look at her, wondering what she was chuckling about. "You seem very good with kids, Naruto. I could see the parents watching you as well, they seemed to think the same thing."

"Well, I've been a kid too, so why wouldn't I?" Naruto said and Sakura shook her head, smiling at how he answered her.

"That's true. So, where are we going to for lunch?" She asked and Naruto smiled.

"Well, why don't we bring some food to the park and eat there? Then we can train afterwards?" Naruto asked and Sakura nodded.

When they arrived to the park, they sat down and pulled out their food. While they ate, they had small discussions about everything from how it was in the hospital to Taku and Gina. It was a while since Sakura had seen them now, or at least it felt that way. When they finished eating they just kept on chatting for a while, knowing that it wouldn't be good for them to spar right after they had eaten.

When they finally decided it was time for them to spar, they packed their stuff, threw the trash in a trashcan and walked towards training ground 7. They started stretching and they then faced each other. Sakura put on her black gloves and Naruto narrowed his eyes in confusion, but didn't ask her about it. Naruto looked at Sakura, she looked ready to fight, she didn't give away any of her weaknesses, but Naruto could easily figure out that she was going to use hand to hand combat. He could see her making sure that she had a good grip on the ground and he could see her clenching and un clenching her fists. Somebody may say that it's not a good enough reason to believe that their enemy was a hand to hand type, some might say that they are serious about their fight, slightly nervous or exited.

Naruto decided to see if he was right, and ran towards Sakura and pulled out a kunai. Sakura came running towards him, holding her own and blocked his kunai from striking her. She then punched him in the stomach. He tumbled slightly backwards before he jumped back and threw his kunai at her. She dodged it easily and kept running towards him. Naruto jumped again while dodging one of Sakura's own kunai that she threw towards him. When Naruto was on the ground again, he had nowhere to go, he was leaning back towards a big rock and Sakura was running towards him, ready to punch. Sakura screamed as she swung her fist towards Naruto's stomach, and hit him. Sakura's eyes widened for a second, she thought he would get away from her before she actually got the chance to hit him!

Sakura let out a sigh of relief though when the Naruto turned into air. She looked behind her to see Naruto looked at her with a horrified expression. She looked at him confused and he just pointed behind her. She turned around to see the rock that the Naruto clone was standing against was now shattered. _'Obviously Tsunade Baa-chan did teach her more than just medical jutsu...' _Naruto thought as he looked at Sakura who was just smiling.

"..Wow..." Naruto said and Sakura chuckled.

"Too much for you?"

"No way!" Naruto said and they charged at each other again. They ended up blocking fists and kicks from each other for quite some time, and Sakura got curious about his style of fighting. He didn't seem to have one way of fighting hand to hand combat, it seemed like.. it had all been collected from different martial arts.

After a while of hand to hand combat, Naruto decided to use some Ninjutsu. He made sure to get a good distance away from Sakura and made the hand seals. "Fuuton: Kaiten Shuriken!" He then yelled.

Sakura dodged the Kaiten Shuriken just in time and landed in the lake just near the training ground and made some hand seals herself. "Suiton: Daibakufu!" She said and a massive spiraling blast of water hit Naruto in the stomach. He fell down to the ground and clutched his stomach. "I wasn't ready for that one.." He said and grunted as he stood up.

When Sakura saw Naruto sitting on the ground and clutching his stomach, she got scared that maybe she had used a little too much chakra to make the technique strong enough, but when she saw him stand up, she sighed. As she sighed, she suddenly felt her arms on her back, making her unable to move them. "What the-" She said but stopped when she felt Naruto's head on the left side of her own.

"Gotcha.." He said and Sakura could feel him pull back a little and adjust his hold on her. As he did this, his warm breath came in contact with her neck which made her shiver. This didn't go unnoticed by Naruto who smirked, but didn't do anything further. "You'd probably be able to get out of my hold with your strength, but you've got to admit.. You let your guard down there for a second."

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, I know, but I was scared that I had hurt you. Even though we are supposed to fight with the intent to kill, this is still just a spar, not a real fight." She said and Naruto smiled slightly.

"So, do you surrender?" Naruto asked in a commercial voice and Sakura chuckled.

"I guess I won't get the feeling back in my arms if I don't." Sakura said and Naruto immediately let go of her hands.

"Ah! Sorry! I didn't hurt you, did I?!" He asked, but soon found himself held to the ground with his hand pinned over his head. He looked up to see Sakura grinning down at him.

"Nope, you didn't!" She said and chuckled at the look he got on his face. "So, do you surrender?" Sakura asked, trying to match her voice to Naruto's when he said it.

It was then Naruto noticed their position. As said, Sakura had pinned his hands above his head. Now, as he began to think about it, there was just one way she could do that, and that was by sitting on top of him. Sure enough, she was straddling him, and her face was just a few inches away from his own. He could feel her soft breath on his face and lips. As he thought about it, being held down like this by a women, Sakura none the less, made him feel... Controlled... And he liked it. In fact, if he could lift his head just a bit, he could see down Sakura's shirt- No! Stop thinking like that!

Naruto started to blush slightly at his own thoughts and looked up into Sakura's eyes again. She gave him a curious look. "Why are you looking at me like that?" It took her a moment before she too realized their position and quickly got off of him.

As the day proceeded, Naruto ended up walking Sakura back to her house. It was still early, but Naruto could see Sakura getting tired. The sun had just started to go down and people were walking home from work. As they walked towards the door to Sakura's house, they stopped, both trying to find something to say, but a scream stopped them. It was coming from inside Sakura's house. They quickly opened the door and ran inside. They could see Sakura's mother laying on the floor and a man coming out from the corner. He had a sword on his hand. He started to run towards Sakura's mother and just before the sword impacted a body got between the sword and Sakura's mother.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled horrified as she saw the sword go right through his stomach.

* * *

Sorry about the cliffhanger here.. But I thought I should get this chapter out now. Please review!:)


	16. Chapter 16

The still living dream

Chapter 16

**A/N:** It's been a long time since I've updated, and I give you guys my deepest apologies. I've been very sick lately, and the ME is at the worst right now. What do you guys think of the latest couple of chapters in Naruto? I mean, Danzo? Hokage? No way in hell!

**Thank you;** HarajukuSushi, Cenright, icekrim91, Malix2, xNINJABLADE45x ,narufan1001, lordzues, RANMACAT, dupel, Patrick S, Anton, FamousFox89 aka the black Crow , xofreethelightox, kira553, shyguy1818, DOOOOOOM Lord of Waffles, c im am a dragon, Gravenimage.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto!

* * *

«NARUTO!» Sakura yelled as she saw the sword go through his stomach. Sakura's mother stared at her in disbelief before looking at the sword that came out of Naruto's lower back. Naruto grabbed the sword and pulled it out of his body. The enemy got surprised when Naruto took the blow, and took several steps back. Naruto threw the sword on the floor next to him and turned around to face Sakura's mother.

«Are you alright?» He asked her, though she didn't answer him. «Sakura-chan. Take your mother and get out of here.» Naruto said, turning around and looking at the enemy.

«What? No, Naruto, you're wounded, I can't leave you here alone!» She said, «You'll bleed to death! I can't let you-»

«Sakura-chan!» Naruto said, not taking his eyes off of his enemy. «I'll be fine. I _promise_. Take your mother out of here.»

Sakura looked at Naruto. He was bleeding heavily, and she knew he was in pain, but still, he wanted her and her mother to go somewhere safe._ 'I guess it's better for Naruto then as well. He'll worry about protecting the both of us..' _Sakura walked over to her mother and helped her stand up. _'Besides, he always keeps his promises.'_ She thought and smiled. «Alright, but be careful!»

«I will..» Naruto said. As soon as he knew the two were out of the house, Naruto decided to get to work. «Who are you?» he asked the man that was standing in front of him. The man smirked.

«I guess I could tell you my name. My name is Rafu Ronin. Who are you?» the man said as he looked at Naruto's wound, wondering how he could stand the pain he must've go through.

«Why do you want to know?» Rafu raised his eyebrow.

«You know mine, don't you think I should know yours?»

Naruto laughed, «Nah.»

Suddenly, Rafu was in front of Naruto, throwing a punch at his bleeding wound. Naruto noticed this a little to late, and he hit him not so far away from the wound. Rafu threw another punch, this time at Naruto's head, and Naruto used his hand to block it. He then grabbed on to Rafu's hand and threw him across the room. Rafu did a flip and landed against the wall with slight force. «You seem to know my movements well. Maybe this will be fun.» He said.

Meanwhile Sakura was helping her mother walk towards the hospital. They hadn't said a word to each other yet, Sakura's mother was probably in shock, both because of the attack and Naruto taking the blow that was meant for her. Sakura was silent because she didn't know what to say at the moment. What she did know however, was that she had to get her mother to safety so she could go help out Naruto fight that bastard. Naruto was wounded, after all.

«..Sakura.. Was that.. Naruto Uzumaki?» Sakura's mother asked as she looked down into the ground. Sakura swallowed.

«Yes.. Yes it is.» Sakura said. _'Where is this going?' _She asked herself.

«I thought he was.. banished..» Sakura's mother said and Sakura nodded.

«He was.»

«Then.. How come.. What is he doing here?» She asked, still not looking up from the ground.

«He's not here for revenge, if that's what you were thinking!» Sakura said with her voice a little louder then her mother expected. «He is here because he missed his friends-no, his family, and his village!» She said, glaring at her mother.

«I-I didn't say that! I.. I'm just.. Why did he take the blow? He's wounded now, he'll bleed to death.» Sakura's mother said as she looked back towards their house.

Sakura looked back towards their house as well. «He hates seeing people in pain.» She said, and her mother looked at her. «Even though he's been going through so much pain, I think what hurt him the most was seeing other people getting hurt as well. I don't think he was thinking 'At least I'm not alone.' I think he was hating the fact of seeing people in pain. Naruto is the kind of guy that will do anything for his friends, anything.»

Sakura's mother was confused. «But.. I haven't been nice to him, I haven't done anything good to him.»

Sakura smiled sadly, «That's just the way he is. He'll do anything to help, even though he'll be in a lot of pain afterwards.»

* * *

Naruto winced when Rafu got a hit at his open wound. Rafu smirked. «Looks like you're in pain.» He said, but Naruto ignored him.

«What did you do to her?» Naruto asked, and Rafu laughed.

«I didn't do anything but help her!» Rafu said.

«I don't believe that! Why did you try to kill her!?» Naruto screamed at him.

«It's the price she should pay!» Rafu yelled.

«What the hell is wrong with you?!» Naruto yelled at him. He then ran towards him._ 'This bastard __is confusing me. He helped her, and the price she should pay is her life? It doesn't make any sense!'_ Naruto threw a punch at the man, making the man's nose start to bleed. The man lifted his hand up to his nose and touched the blood, before looking at his hand. He then laughed. _'What the hell...?'_

"You really are an worthy opponent!" Rafu said and ran towards Naruto again. He picked up his sword when he ran past it and got ready to stab Naruto. Naruto jumped out of the way, getting out one of his kunai and stabbing him in Rafu's right shoulder, making him not able to hold his sword anymore. Rafu winced and looked at his shoulder. He was bleeding heavily. Naruto then ran towards him again, kicking him in the stomach, sending him into the wall. Rafu fell to the floor, leaving a trail of blood on the wall. Rafu pulled out the kunai from his shoulder with his left arm and tossed it at the floor.

_'I have to figure him out, fast.', _Naruto thought and looked at him. With his one arm basically out of function, Rafu used his left arm to throw a couple of shuriken's at Naruto. Naruto dodged most of them, but one got caught right above his knee. _'He can use his left arm just as good as his right?'_ Naruto asked himself, however, when Rafu picked up his sword with his left hand, his suspicions were proven right. "Crap.."

"What is it, boy? Are you getting scared?" Rafu asked and laughed loudly, running towards Naruto. Naruto blocked his sword with his left arm, making it bleed slightly.

"Nah, I'm just surprised that you can fight with the injured arm, and fight with the left one at the same time, and not lose it." Naruto said. "Most people like you, well.. They don't last any longer than a few seconds before the pain takes over their body."

"What do you mean by that?" Rafu asked and swung his sword at Naruto again.

"The place in your elbow I hit with the kunai, cut off your nerves, possibly a few blood veins.. And with you running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, you'll soon bleed to death, I'm afraid."

"Hah! You don't know me kid!"

Naruto pulled out another kunai and sliced Rafu's torso, though Rafu managed to jump back so the wound didn't get very deep. His shirt was now torn over the torso, and some blood was coming out of the wound. "What are you here for!?"

"REVENGE!" Rafu yelled, "I want revenge on that bitch!"

"Revenge? Why?" Naruto asked, getting confused. What could Sakura's mother possibly have done to this freak show of a man?

"When I helped her, she promised to pay me back! Guess what? I've never even seen a penny from her! In over 11 years! Now, she deserves to die! She should have paid the price she promised me!"

«Why?» Naruto asked. _'What price?' _Naruto had gotten even more confused, "What could you possibly have done for her that should make her owe you anything?!"

«Because if it wasn't for me, she'd be dead.»

* * *

_'Is that kid really going to be alright? That man is very powerful..'_ Sakura's mother asked herself as she looked back towards the house, where Naruto was still fighting Naruto.

"Mom.. Who is that guy?" Sakura asked her mother. "I need to know the truth." Sakura looked her mother in the eyes, "Please?"

Sakura's mother sighed and nodded. "For about 11 years ago, I was hurt badly, when I was outside the village on a trip. You remember that? I was gone for about a month?" Sakura nodded. "Well, during that time, I got attacked by these men. I don't know who they were or why they were attacked me, but they did. They beat me until my whole body was shaking and covered with blood.. They even started to tear my clothes off. That was when I realized what they were going to do. I wasn't able to move, my whole body was aching, and I had broken a couple of ribs and my arm."

_**Flashback**_

"_Please, no! I have a daughter back home, I'm her only relative left. She has nobody else, please, don't kill me."_

"_Well that's too bad, isn't it?" One of the man said and laughed. _

"_Please, I'll do anything, just let me go home to my daughter! I'll give you anything you want, as soon as I get it! Please... I beg you.." _

"_Haha! Why should we care? What good could you do now anyways?!" _

_Suddenly, the three men dropped dead on the ground. She didn't know what happened, but she figured she was the next one. She closed her eyes hard, but not feeling any pain, other then what she was already feeling, she opened her eyes. In front of her, a man was standing with his back towards her, his sword had the three men's blood dripping down from it and onto the ground. She looked up at him in both fear and confusion.. He was with them, he probably was their friend.. And he killed them. "Be sure to give me those money.." He said. He then turned around to her and showed her his face again, he has a dark expression on them. "I saved your life, remember. If I don't see those money, I'll kill you and your daughter!"_

_**End flashback**_

"After that, he brought me to a hospital, saying he found me on the street in that condition. Not before getting to know who I was, and where I lived.."

Sakura was shocked. She figured that her mother had been in some kind of trouble, but not like this. She thought maybe her mother had tried to gamble.. "I'm so sorry mom..."

"That's not all Sakura.. He's come back up to 4 times a year, asking for the money, but I never had enough to give him. The money I had I used on you. Food, clothes.. When he came here.. I had to pay him some _other_ way- or he'd kill you."

Sakura was quiet for a second, trying to figure out the 'other' way she was paying him. "Oh.." She said when she realized it. "He.. He raped you?"

"Sort of. Because I didn't want him to hurt you, I went along with it, but I hated it." Her mother looked at the ground as they walked. "The only man I ever loved, was your father Sakura. He was the only man I had ever slept with. As you know, I believe in sex after love-true love.."

"I'm sorry mom.. It must've been hard for you.. Why didn't you tell someone?"

"I felt as if someone were always watching me. Thinking it was him, I never dared to tell anyone."

They arrived at the hospital and Sakura kicked the door open. She spotted her blond friend. "INO! I need you to take care of my mother!" She yelled. Ino, who was reading a magazine when she yelled, jumped at the voice.

"What happened?!" Ino yelled, as she ran towards Sakura and her mother.

"I can't explain right now, I gotta go help Naruto! Contact help and take good care of my mother, she was beaten pretty badly!"

"HAI!" Ino said, and took her mother out of Sakura's arm's. She then helped Sakura's mother sit down, before running over to a room not far away. "Tsunade-sama! Something is going on. Sakura came here dragging her mother in, before leaving saying she had to help Naruto!" Ino said and ran out of the room again to begin examining Sakura's mother. Tsunade came out of the room in a hurry.

"Where is he?" Tsunade asked.

"Our house.." Sakura's mother said.

Tsunade nodded. "Ino, take care of her. I'm going after Sakura and Naruto."

* * *

"W-what? Dead? How?" Naruto asked, shocked. Rafu told the same story, though didn't mention anything about being one of the people who were beating her. Naruto stared at him. "That's stupid! How can you ask for money? Isn't saving a life enough for you?!"

"She offered, I wanted it!" He said and some how were able to make some hand seals. "**Katon: Goukakyuu!"** He yelled and a large ball of flame is exhaled from Rafu's mouth. Naruto quickly dodged, and jumped out of the window, cracking the glass. He landed with his back first on the ground outside. Then there was a big bang and the house stood in flames.

_'.. Is he alright?'_ Naruto thought, thinking that he may have been caught in the blast. People in the other buildings had started to scream and run outside. Suddenly he saw Rafu jump out of the window he had thrown himself out of. Rafu had burns on his right arm and on the right side of his face. They didn't look to pretty.

"You.. I'll kill you!" Rafu yelled, but it didn't really seem like he would be any more damage. He looked horrible, besides, it didn't look like he could move his arms anymore. He shocked him when he was able to make those hand seals, but now Naruto was almost 100 % sure that he wouldn't be able to use his arms. That, and he was bleeding heavily, you could see the blood coming out of his wounds and drip down on the ground in a scarily fast speed.

Naruto looked around him, people was standing around, staring at them and the building that were burning. "Oh my god!" He heard someone scream, "Are the Haruno's alright? That's their house!"

"They're fine, miss." Naruto said, his eyes leaving Rafu for one second to smile reassuringly at the woman. "You should just give up, Rafu. If not, you'll die. You're losing to much blood."

Rafu was sweating, "Yeah? What about you?! You'll bleed to death too!" Rafu yelled, probably knowing that he would either die, or lose.

Naruto looked down at the wound on his stomach, "I'll live." He said, he knew the fox was already beginning to heal him. "So, what will it be?" Naruto asked.

Rafu seemed to think for a second, before starting to laugh like a maniac. He shook off his jacket and reviled the three explosive tags that were attached to him. "I'll take you down with me." He said and sat off the explosion.

When the smoke cleared, it showed Naruto standing in front of everyone else, with some kind of chakra shield covering him and the people from the blast. "Are everyone alright?" Naruto asked and let down the chakra shield. Naruto looked at where Rafu used to stand. Now, there was blood all over the place, as well as some body parts. Naruto turned around, "Make sure your kids doesn't see it." He said and those who had kids went inside with them.

Naruto looked down on his wound. It was healing, but slower then usual. It must have been a pretty bad wound. Now, as he began to catch his breath and didn't have to focus on the battle, he felt the pain coming. He ripped what was left of his shirt off him and looked at the wound. When he saw it was still bleeding heavily, he sat down on the ground. "Naruto!" He heard a voice yell, and he saw both Sakura and Tsunade coming running towards him. They both sat down next to him. "Look at you! You look horrible!" Sakura yelled and hit him over the head before starting to heal his wound. Naruto went to say something, but looked at Tsunade instead, who smirked amused.

Tsunade stood up as there were ANBU showing up at the scene. She started barking orders at all of them. "Hai, Tsunade-sama!" They said and started to set out the fire, get the remains of the body away and so on.

Naruto looked at Sakura. "Is your mother alright?"

Sakura smiled at him, "Shaken, but alright." Naruto smiled back at her and watched as the ANBU were taking out the fire in the house.

"Sorry about your house.. He used a Katon jutsu, and after that he blew himself up.." Naruto said.

"It's alright. You came out alive, that's really all I wanted." Sakura said. If Naruto hadn't been wounded and she hadn't been healing him, Sakura would probably be drooling over his very good looking body.

"I knew it had to do with you!" Naruto heard someone say and looked at the person. It was Gina and Taku. "You really can't stay out of trouble can you?"

Taku started laughing before turning to Naruto, "Man, who did you piss off?"


	17. Chapter 17

**The still living dream**

**chapter 17**

**A/N;** I think I got this one out a little earlier than the last one.. I hope.. Anyway, I'm not that sure about this chapter, but it'll work for now!

**Thanks;** Gravenimage, Cenright, Nebula1701, c im am a dragon, Rakugosha, thorthehero.

**Disclaimer;** I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!

Taku pulled out three letters. It was these letters that told him his name was Taku and that he was a ninja. That was all he ever got out of them. He would read them at least once a week, trying to find some clues, but this was the first time reading it again for almost a month. Because of the chuunin exams, also because of Naruto and Gina.

_Dear Taku_

_I hope you are alright. The last fight you had with that man seemed to really take it's toll on you and your body. Because I haven't heard from you in a while, I've gotten nervous. Please give a word to me if your okay or not. I am very worried for you, we all are. Please, contact me._

_-Nana_

That was the first letter he read. He didn't find out much from it, except that his name was Taku, he was in some sort of fight with a guy and he worried a girl named Nana.. The second letter was also from this 'Nana' person, but this letter was.. different..

_Taku,_

_I don't understand! What happened to you? Where is the Taku I knew so well? You've changed, you know that? And I can't say I like it! Anyways.. I hope it's just a face you're going through, you are close to being a teenager.. Still.. I'd like it if you didn't turn us out like you do. It's not like you, Taku. Is something wrong? I can't seem to get through to you! Well, I'll give you some space for now, but please-Talk to us!_

_Nana_

It seemed as if he, 'Nana' and maybe somebody else were in a fight or something. The letter said he had 'turned them out'.. What would that mean? Did he ignore them and make them worried when there really wasn't anything to be worried about, or was there?

"Taku!" Gina said and walked into the room. "Wanna train? I'm pretty bored.." Gina asked.

Taku smiled, "Sure!" He said and put the letters away.

Gina looked at him as he put away the letters. "What's that?" Gina asked.

"It's nothing." Taku said and gave her a smile. "Let's go!" He said and dragged her by the arm out of the hotel.

-.-.-

"Ready for your check-up, Naruto?" Naruto looked up from his seat and Saw Sakura smiling down at him. She was wearing her usual medic uniform-she looked good. Naruto nodded and stood up. "Come on." Sakura said and led the way into a room.

There were different weights, running machines and other stuff in the room. Sakura sat down in her seat and Naruto sat down as well. "So, how are you feeling? Any pain at all?"

Naruto nodded slightly, "Yeah.. Actually I feel a little pain in my chest and stomach, around where I was stabbed.." Naruto said.

Sakura looked alarmed, "That can't be good.. Let me take a look at it." Sakura said and got up from her seat. She walked over to a examination table. "Take off your shirt and lay down on this." Naruto nodded and walked over to the examination table. He sat down at it, took off his shirt then laid down. As Naruto took off his shirt, Sakura couldn't help but eye his muscles. He was very well toned. You could see his six-pack clearly, but not in a creepy way. Sakura shook her head slightly and got to work. She carefully moved his necklace out of the way before exterminating his slightly visible scar. Naruto watched her face as she looked so concentrated. Suddenly he felt something touching him close to his scar and he jumped slightly.

Sakura pulled her hands away, "Sorry. Did it hurt?" she looked at him with a concerned look. Naruto smiled and shook his head.

"No it's alright, I was just startled I guess.." Naruto said and scratched the back of his head. Sakura's eyes flickered over his muscled arms for a second before looking back at his face and nodded at him. She then placed her hands carefully a few inches away from the scar. "I'm going to touch different places around the scar to figure out exactly where you feel the pain, so say something if you feel any pain at all-alright?" Sakura said. As Sakura was slightly pushing down on his chest and stomach, Naruto would give out some sounds of pain, and other times tell her that it really hurt, or that he was fine at that place. "To me it seems like you're very sore around where the sword impacted, though that's normal.. But I can try to heal it a bit, maybe that will take away the soreness." Sakura said and placed her hands right above the scar. She focused her chakra and soon her hands began to glow green.

After a few minutes, Sakura pulled her hands away. "There. That should do it. Do you feel any better?"

Naruto smiled, "I feel great! Thanks!"

"Great! Then we'll continue with the check-up!" Sakura said. "I'm going to listen to your heart for a bit, take your blood pressure, take some tests, then we'll go over to the physical part of the check-up." Sakura informed and Naruto nodded.

Sakura listened to his heart beat for a while, making him breathe both through his mouth and his nose. She then took some blood test, and lastly she took his blood pressure. "Your heartbeat and blood pressure is fine-I can't say anything about the blood tests, but I doubt there's anything wrong with them. Now, next, you'll be running on that running machine. You'll get a oxygen mask. The meaning of this is to watch how your pulse is while running, walking and so on. Alright?" Naruto nodded. "Well, you can start by walking."

After a few minutes of walking, Sakura noted his pulse on her paper and sped up the pace a little. She did the same thing a few times. Sakura finished noting on her paper and slowed the machine down. "This is very good." Sakura said. She walked over to Naruto to help him take off the oxygen mask, as well as some of the other wires that was attached to him. As Sakura took off these wires, her eyes went over his body again, though this time, it was glinting slightly. It was because of the small layer of sweat that had formed above his skin. It looked.. Hot. Sakura blushed. She shouldn't be thinking thoughts like that! She's a medic for crying out loud! She mentally prepared herself to look up at him again. "What we'll do now is to weight you, see how much body fat you have, how long you are and the size of your arms and legs."

She weighted him, found out how much body fat he had, found out how tall he was and what the sizes of his arms, legs, chest and shoulders were. Naruto stiffened when Sakura bent down to measure his thigh. Sakura noticed this and blushed. Naruto saw her blushing and started blushing slightly himself. Sakura cleared her throat and stood up. She still had a slight tint of red in her cheeks, but tried to hide it. "Well, this was the check-up. To me, everything seems to be fine. And as I said earlier, I doubt there's anything wrong with your blood tests." Sakura said.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan." Naruto said. "Um.. Have you found out anything about Gina's sickness?" Naruto asked her.

Sakura looked down at her feet. "Nothing yet.. I would like to have her come to have a check-up though. Maybe I can find something in any of the tests.." Naruto nodded and smiled.

"Alright, I'll tell her to come over here.. ehh.. When do you have an appointment?" Naruto asked and scratched the back of his neck.

"Oh, right." Sakura said as she looked through her papers. "I have a few this week actually. She can come tomorrow, if that doesn't work I have some clear for the two days after that as well.." Sakura explained.

Naruto thought about it for a moment. "Well.. Would you like it to be as soon as possible? I mean-Other than hanging around in the village and train, we're not doing much, and we don't really have any plans.. So pick a day and a time that's good for you." Naruto said.

Sakura nodded, "I'd like to do the check-up as soon as possible. So, do you think tomorrow will work?" Sakura asked. Naruto nodded. "Oh! Maybe I could set up an appointment for Taku as well?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea." Naruto said. Sakura nodded.

Sakura turned around and walked towards Naruto with a small paper in her hands. "Here are the times for the appointments-" Sakura said, but fell. She grabbed onto the closest thing to her, which was Naruto. Naruto lost his balance and fell over Sakura, knocking down lot's of different papers.

They both stayed still for a while, not really getting what just happened. Sakura could feel Naruto's hot breath at her neck, making her let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. This made Naruto snap a little back into reality and lifted his head slightly to look Sakura right in the eyes. When they fell, Naruto ended up on top of Sakura. His one leg was on the inside of her two legs, while the other one was at her right side. His well toned body was on top of hers, and she noticed one of her arms were above her head, while the other was resting on his back. The way he was hovering over her, his ocean blue eyes looking onto her green ones nearly made her stop breathing. His eyes were so beautiful, she could get lost in them. The fact that he didn't wear a shirt didn't help much either, but she really didn't care.

Somebody opened the door. "Jeez, what happe..." Ino said but as she saw the two on the floor, Naruto laying on op of Sakura, with the whole room pretty much a mess around them, made her speechless. Ino tried to form word and sentences but it didn't work. However, she did get a small smirk after a few seconds. "I'll just leave now." She said and walked out of the room and closed the door behind her.

Both Naruto and Sakura were staring at the door, shocked. They then looked back at each other. That's when Naruto noticed what kind of position they were in. He blushed furiously and pushed himself off of her, before reaching his hand out of her to take. She took his hand and he helped her up. "Ah, Sakura-chan, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Ah, no, Naruto, It was my fault. I should have watched where I was going.." They ended up looking at each other again before Naruto bent down and started to pick up the papers.

"Here, let me help you with these..." Naruto said. Sakura bent down next to him and started picking up the papers as well.

"Thank you.." Sakura said. Naruto then reached for his shirt and put it on. Sakura found herself scowling slightly at this, but quickly caught herself.

"Umm.. I'll bring this to Gina and Taku then.. Thank you for the check-up, Sakura-chan." Naruto said as he walked backwards to the door.

Sakura smiled at him. "No problem Naruto."

Naruto smiled and opened the door. "See ya."

"See ya.." Sakura said back as he closed the door behind him. She let out a long sigh. _'What's wrong with me? Why did I act like that?'_

-.-.-

Gina and Taku sat down at the Ichiraku and ordered Ramen. They were both covered with dirt and sweat from their training. "Man, you get tougher and tougher every time we fight!" Taku exclaimed. "I feel like I'm falling behind!"

"If I'm getting stronger, and you're still hanging in there, that means that you're getting stronger as well, Taku." Gina smiled at him and said.

Taku brightened, "You're right!" He said and started to eat his ramen. He then slowed down. Gina looked at him as he swallowed. "What do you think of this place?" Taku asked Gina, playing with his ramen.

Gina smiled. "I like it here. I can see why Naruto loves it here. It got the good line between a big city and the more quiet places, like the woods and such.." Gina said. "I definitely wouldn't mind living here."

"Me neither.. The only problem is that Naruto won't be living here.."

Gina frowned. "I just don't understand how some people think he is a threat! He's not! I mean, sure, he can be short tempered and lose it sometimes, but we all do that!" Gina turned to Taku, "Right?" Taku nodded. "Besides! Even now, when he's not a part of the village, he would still die in order to protect it! If that's not the will of fire, then I don't know what it is!" Gina exclaimed, getting up on her feet and slamming her fists onto the the table.

Ayame quickly turned around when she heard a couple of fists collide with the table. She walked up to the costumer. "Is there anything wrong with your order?"

Gina blushed "Ah, no! We we're talking about something else. Your ramen is delicious!" Gina said and smiled at her.

Ayame smiled, "Thank you." She said before getting back to work.

Taku chuckled and Gina glared at him. Taku kept chuckling, "You have to admit, that was sort of funny." Gina stared blankly at him before she sighed and gave a small smile.

"There you are!" Naruto said and placed his hands on their shoulders. He gave Gina the note. "You two have an appointment each for a check-up tomorrow. Sakura-chan's orders!" Naruto said and smiled. "Mmmm... Ramen!" He said and sat down next to Gina and ordered some ramen.

"How did your check-up go?" Gina asked and Naruto started blushing slightly. This didn't go unnoticed by either Gina or Taku. Gina smiled, "What's that blush for?"

"It went good. She said she didn't find anything unusual, my heartbeat was good, my pulse was good and she doubted there was anything wrong with the blood tests." Naruto said.

Taku stared at Naruto. "...D-did you say... Blood test?" Taku asked and Naruto nodded.

"It was the smallest needle though, nothing to worry about." Naruto said.

Taku swallowed hard but nodded. "I'll take your word for it." Taku didn't know why, but the thought of needles was freaking him out.

Naruto and Gina chuckled, "It'll be fine, Taku. It's Sakura who're preforming the check-up."

Taku smiled, "oh. Alright."

-.-.-.-

The next day Taku and Gina were going to have their check-ups. Naruto decided to tag along, maybe he could make sure Sakura was alright and didn't get any wrong idea's from the day before. He just hoped they wouldn't get uncomfortable around each other.

They were currently sitting in the waiting area. Naruto heard some light sobbing and looked around him. On the left side of the room, a little girl was sitting with her head in her hands, trying to keep the tears in. But she still sobbed. Naruto got a soft look on his face and stood up. Both Taku and Gina looked at him. "Where are you going?" Naruto didn't say anything, instead he walked up to the little girl and bent down in front of her. He put his hand lightly on her shoulder and she looked up with tears running down her cheeks.

"Hey there. What's wrong?" Naruto asked and the little girl. She wiped away her tears with her sleeve.

"My dad just came home from a mission and he's very hurt. They wont let me see him." The little girl said.

"Is your dad a ninja?" Naruto asked and the little girl nodded. "He must be a very strong man." Naruto said and the little girl smiled.

"My daddy's the best! We always go out to eat when he comes back from missions, and he usually don't get very hurt.." The girl started happy, but it soon faded. "I'm really scared."

"I can understand that. I'm a ninja myself, and all the time I watch my friends get hurt. It's not a good feeling. What's your name sweety?" Naruto asked.

".. Nora.." The little girl said.

Naruto smiled, "That's a pretty name!" he said.

The little girl blushed lightly. "What's your name mister?" The girl asked.

"My name's Naruto."

The girl giggled. "That's a funny name!" Naruto chuckled, "But it's a nice name." The girl then clarified.

"Heh, thank you." Naruto said and looked around him. His eyes landed on Tsunade's back as she was talking to some medic. He turned back around to the girl, "Hey, how about I talk to someone to let you visit your dad? I can't be 100% sure you will, but it's worth a try, right?"

The little girl smiled widely, "Really?" Naruto nodded. The girl threw herself at Naruto and hugged him. "Thank you!" She said and Naruto laughed as he tried to make sure he didn't fall backwards. He held the girl as he stood up and started walking towards Tsunade.

"I need you to come with me though. With your cuteness, they can't say no." Naruto said and the little girl chuckled.

"Tsunade Baa-chan!" Naruto said as he came closer to her. The little girl chuckled. Tsunade stopped talking and you could see her twitch. She turned around and the little girl gasped lightly.

"That's the Hokage!" She whispered.

Naruto chuckled, seeing the look on Tsunade's face. "I know."

Tsunade's eyes went from Naruto to the little girl then back to Naruto again. She smiled lightly. Naruto made friends easily, and he had friends of all ages. "What is it Gaki?"

Naruto chuckled at her name calling, though he couldn't really blame her-he called her names too.. It was just something they did. "This is Nora-chan and her father just got back from a mission and is very hurt. I found her sitting in that corner all alone, crying. They wouldn't let her see her father. She's very worried about him." Naruto said and Nora nodded, feeling tears in her eyes come back.

Tsunade's face softened at the sight and what he was telling her. It was true that if her father was in surgery, she couldn't see him yet, but if the surgery is finished, she is allowed to see him because she is family. Because she is family, she is allowed to see him, even if he is asleep or awake. Tsunade smiled, "I'll see if his surgery is finished, if that's the case, you can see him. But if he's still in surgery, you'll have to wait until he is out, alright Nora?" Tsunade said and Nora nodded while wiping away her tears again. "What did the nurses tell you?"

"They said that I wasn't allowed to see him yet. Then they told me to go sit over there," She said and pointed to the corner.

"Did they say anything else?" Tsunade asked.

Nora shook her head. "They wouldn't even tell me if he was okay or not."

Tsunade narrowed her eyes. "That's not right. I'll go talk to them right away. What's your last name?"

"Mitsku." Nora said.

Tsunade nodded. "I'll be back in a few minutes." Tsunade said. Just like she said, she came back after a few minutes. She smiled, "Your father's awake. You can come see him." She said. You could see the little girls face lit up. She hugged Naruto, and he sat her down on the floor. She ran towards Tsunade, who took her hand and led the way. Tsunade turned back and smiled at Naruto. She was so proud of him.

As Naruto walked back to Gina and Taku, he saw one of the nurses smiling flirtatiously at him. Naruto gave a simple smile back, nothing more. He sat back down next to Taku. Was something wrong with that little girl?" Gina asked.

Naruto shook his head, "No, she was just sad that she wasn't allowed to see her father who got injured on a mission. It's all okay now though."

"Hey you guys." They looked up at the person. It was Sakura. "Ready for your check-ups?" She asked and both Gina and Taku nodded. "Good. Naruto, your blood tests are just fine, by the way." She said and smiled. Naruto smiled back. "So, which one of you two wants to go first?" Sakura asked.

Taku looked around in the room and his eyes landed on one of the nurses. He got up, "You go first Gina. I've got..something to do.." Taku said and walked over to the girl.

Gina shook her head while both Naruto and Sakura chuckled. "You can go inside that room over there." Sakura said. Gina got up and walked into the room. Sakura turned to Naruto and blushed slightly. "How are you?"

"I'm good!" He said, "Nothing hurts now! You did a great job!" Naruto assured her. She smiled.

"That's good." They then fell into an uncomfortable silence.

"Eh.. Sakura-chan.. Listen.. About yesterday.." Naruto began and Sakura blushed, "I'm really sorry about it. I didn't mean for that to happen." Naruto said.

Sakura chuckled, "Again, I should be the one apologizing. I was the one that fell and dragged you down with me." Sakura said.

Naruto smirked, "Your right!" Sakura gave him a look before hitting his arm lightly.

"Well, I should get to Gina." Sakura said, "I'll see your later."

Sakura got into the examination room and started the examination on Gina. She did the same with her that she did with Naruto, though she checked everything up to three times. She also took some tests of the medicine she took, that miraculously helped her condition somewhat. When she finished her examination, she asked Gina to send Taku inside.

She looked at him. He looked like he was troubled by something. She sat down next to him. "Taku, is something wrong?" Sakura asked.

Taku looked at her and shook his head, "No, everything's fine!" He said with a smile, a fake one.

Sakura wasn't convinced. "Taku.." She said.

Taku sighed. _'She is a medic... Maybe she can help me..' _

"Tell me what's wrong.." Sakura said and placed a hand on his shoulder. Taku looked up at her.

"I think I have Amnesia.."


	18. Chapter 18

The Still Living Dream

Chapter 18

**A/N;** I was a little stuck on this chapter, because I really didn't have any idea how I was going to twist what happened here into the plot I have.. But I managed! And I just HAD to put a little alone time with Naruto and Sakura in there. I felt like I owed that to them, and you guys. I really have to apologize for the very late update on this though. My main focus is school and handling ME, which work pretty good so far, thankfully.

**Thanks;** c im a dragon, Malix2, Cenright, Gravenimage, sipuli123, HarajukuSushi.

**Disclaimer;** I do not own Naruto.

* * *

Sakura stared at Taku. «Wait, what?» Taku looked at the ground. «You're serious...» Sakura shook her head and sat down next to Taku. «When did it happen?»

Taku looked at her, «Well, the first thing I remember was meeting Naruto and Gina at the hot spring after-»

«After what?» Sakura asked.

«I have a few letters. What they tell me are that my name is Taku, and that I am a ninja.» He said, "It also seems like I had some kind of fight that took a big toll on my body. Someone named Nana sent the letter and told me that she was worried about me, and asked me to reply to her. In another letter she asked me why I changed, and where the 'old' Taku was." Taku put his head in his hands. "I'm been trying to figure it out for so long, and yet I'm still at the same place as when I started."

Sakura placed her hand on his back and rubbed it. "Does Naruto and Gina know?" Taku shook his head.

"I haven't been able to tell them, even though I trust them with my life..." He said.

"It's alright Taku. Sometimes the people you love the most are the ones that are the hardest to tell."

Taku shook his head, "It's not alright, Sakura..." He said and looked at her. "W-What.. What if I'm the bad guy?"

Sakura stared at him. She couldn't picture Taku as the bad guy. "Honestly, I really don't think you were the bad guy. If you were however, you're not that person now." She said and gave him a smile.

Taku smiled, "Thank you, Sakura."

"No problem." Sakura said, "However, with working with both your amnesia and Gina's sickness it'll take a lot longer then I suspected.. Would it be okay if I asked some other medic ninjas to help me?"

"Of course you can! You can't use all your time on us! Naruto's still here you know!" He said and winked at her.

Sakura blushed slightly. "I know that!" She said, "Wait, what?" She turned to him confused.

Taku laughed, "Hah, nothing." Sakura threw him another confused look, before shaking her head and laughing as well.

She looked through some papers before she turned back towards Taku. "Listen, I have an idea, though I am not sure if it will work.. A friend of mine, Ino, is a part of the Yamanaka family. They have the ability to get into people's head and take control over them-"

"Creepy.." Taku stated.

Sakura gave him a look, "-However, based on that, I think it's worth a shot." Taku nodded. "But you need to tell Naruto and Gina."

Taku sighed, "I know.."

Sakura smiled at him. I'll see if I can get Ino Yamanaka over here right now, okay? Do you want me to send both Naruto and Gina inside so you can tell them now?" She asked.

Taku sighed, "That's probably the best."

Sakura nodded and walked out of the room. A few minutes later Naruto and Gina came into the room looking worried. Gina sat down next to him while Naruto stood in front of them. "Taku, is everything okay?"

"..Not entirely." He said and they looked at him confused. "I never told you guys because your problems seemed so much bigger than mine.. But I have amnesia."

"What?"

"The first thing I remembered was waking up, finding these letters telling me that my name was Taku and that I am a ninja, and then I ran into you guys. I guess I was desperate to find someone who maybe knew me.. But when I learned of your problems.. I guess I just pushed them aside.." Taku said and held his head in his hands. "I'm so sorry for keeping this from you."

Gina kissed him on the cheek and hugged him. "You should have told us you know." She said as she let her head rest on his shoulder.

Taku sighed, "I know. I'm sorry."

"Well, we'll have to find this 'Nana' then!" Naruto exclaimed, standing up from his seat.

"What?" Taku said, but Gina also jumped up from her seat.

"Yeah!" She said, "Maybe we will get lucky and find out something!" She said and Naruto and Gina high-five'd.

Taku smiled, "Thanks guys." They smiled at him, "But first we need to know more about your sickness Gina." He said seriously.

"What? Why can't we do two things at a time? Know more about whatever is wrong with me and find Nana?" Gina asked.

"Taku does have a point, Gina." Naruto said and Gina stared at him.

"I don't want to set you in any kind of danger. We all know that when you get sick, you get really sick. What if it happens during the trip, when we're away from medicine, hospitals and medics?" He said, "I don't want to lose you."

Gina smiled softly at him. She could feel her eyes get watery and she hugged him. Naruto smiled and walked silently out of the room. When he closed the door and turned around, he almost ran into Sakura.

"Is something wrong?" Sakura asked, noticing how he closed the door silently and carefully.

Naruto smiled, "No, they're just having a moment. I'm just giving them some privacy." Sakura smiled and nodded, "Do you know when Gina''s test results come, by the way?"

"Some of them will be finished tonight, and then we have to take some closer test's. I plan on doing every one I can think of so I don't miss anything." Sakura said and took a moment to think. "I guess about a week the most, if she can come every now and then to take the test's."

Naruto nodded, "That's good."

"Did he tell you?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah.. He did." Naruto said and shook his head. "I can't believe that I noticed it before though!" He said hit himself in the forehead. "I mean, sure, I never talked about my family, because I didn't know them, and at a time, didn't know who they were. But I talked about you, Jiraya, Tsunade, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei and everyone else."

"He wanted you and Gina to find a solution for your problems before trying to figure out his own." Sakura said and placed her arm on his shoulder. He looked up at her. "I think you're rubbing off on him." Naruto looked at her confused. "You're just like that Naruto. If you ever need to talk, I'm here. Just know that, alright?"

He smiled softly at her. "Thank you, Sakura-chan." He looked at the door. "Let's go back inside?" Sakura nodded and knocked on the door before she walked in. Gina and Taku was sitting in the same way like when Naruto left them.

"Ino will come in about 30 minutes. In the meantime, how about we get something to eat?" Sakura asked and they all agreed.

* * *

"Okay Taku, I need you to lay down." Ino said and Taku laid down on the examination table. "What I'm going to do now, is I'm going to use a jutsu to go into your mind and go deep into your memories. The only thing that can happen to you is that you might feel a little dizzy when you wake up." Taku nodded.

Naruto went behind Ino as she got ready to enter his mind. "Ready?"She asked and he nodded, "Taku, take a deep breath." He did as he was told and she entered his mind, her own body falling back into Naruto's arms. Naruto picked her up in bridal style and they waited.

* * *

_'Taku-kun! Dinner's ready!' _A woman said as she came out of a small house.

"Hmm.. I guess I made it." Ino said as she looked around.

_'Okay!'_ A 5 year old Taku yelled as he started running towards the woman. _'Auntie!'_ He jumped into her arms and hugged her. She laughed.

_'Hey there, take it easy.'_ She said and picked him up. She walked into the house. Ino followed.

"Is this her?" She asked herself as she started to look around the kitchen. She saw a couple of photos on the wall. Most of them were of the woman and Taku, but there were also pictures of her with other people as well.

A picture of her and a woman who seemed to have just made birth to a boy. _**'Newborn Taku with his mommy and auntie.' **_Was written under the picture. There was also another picture of a woman and a man. The woman had a white wedding dress on and the man had a black tux on. _**'Nana and Seiichi'**_

Ino was about to look at another picture when she looked at the names again. "Nana?" She looked at it again, and the woman on the picture was the woman Taku was calling his aunt.

_'Auntie..' _Taku said and she looked over at him. _'What happened to mommy?' _Taku asked as he looked at the same picture Ino had been looking at just a few seconds earlier. Ino looked at the woman she was almost 100 % sure was Nana.

She sighed, _'A few weeks after she gave birth to you, she got cancer.' _She could see Taku frown and look at his hands. _'She fought the battle, but the cancer had been in her body too long. After a few months she died.'_ Ino saw that Taku had tears beginning to appear in the corner in his eyes and could feel herself tearing up as well.

_'I miss my mommy..'_ Taku said as he started to dry away his tears with his sleeve.

Nana walked up behind his chair and wrapped her arms around his small body and placed her cheek against his._ 'I know, I miss her too.'_ She said as a tear rolled down her other cheek.

The scene in front of Ino changed, and she saw Taku and Nana again, but this time they were older. Taku was about 10 years old. Taku was punching a dummy as Nana was watching him with a smile. _'I will become the greatest ninja ever!' _He said as he gave the dummy a good kick.

_'You know, I know someone who is a ninja, maybe he could teach you some things.' _Nana said and Taku spun around with a big smile on his face.

_'Really Auntie?'_ He asked and Nana smiled and laughed when Taku jumped at her and gave her a big hug. _'Thank you, thank you, thank you!'_

_'We can go visit him tomorrow, how does that sound?'_ Nana asked and laughed even more when Taku cheered. _'Now, we'll have to get you cleaned up until our family comes to dinner, don't you think.'_

Taku frowned, _'Does that mean..'_

_'Yes, you're going to take a bath.'_

_'Aw man!'_ Taku whined as Nana started dragging him into the house.

The scene changed again to where Taku was about 12 years old. _'Taku-kun!'_ She heard Nana yell. _'Taku-kun! Where are you?' _She then saw him laying on the ground in his own blood. _'TAKU-kun!' _She yelled and ran as fast as she could towards his body with her wounds. She dropped down next to him and placed an hand under his head and lifted it up slightly. _'Taku-kun, talk to me!' _

_'Ugh..' _Taku let out a groan. He opened his eyes slowly and saw his aunt hovering over him with a very bad wound on her side as well as a gash across her face._ 'Auntie, are you okay?'_ he asked worried. She had started crying.

_'I'm okay, honey. Stay still, your wounds are really deep.' _She said as she laid his head gently down on the ground again and placed her hands over his wound and pressed down.

_'I.. Couldn't take him..' _

_'Don't worry about it, Taku-kun, he was way too strong.'_ She said as she pressed down even more.

_'I couldn't protect you..' _Was what he was able to say before he passed out again.

Once again the scene changed. Now they were in a hospital room. Taku was pacing.

_'Taku-kun. Lay down!' _Nana begged him.

_'No!'_ Nana was taken back by his outburst. _'They hurt you! I couldn't protect you!'_

_'Taku-kun.. They were way too strong for you..'_

_'That doesn't matter! I said that I would protect you, but I couldn't!' _He stared at the door.

_'Taku-kun... Don't.' _Nana begged him again but he just looked at her.

_'I need to get stronger. I can't let you be hurt like that again, never!'_ He said and walked over to where she was laying down in the hospital bed. 'I love you, aunt Nana.' He said as he gave her a big hug. She hugged him back and as she was pulling away from him, he put her out cold. _'I'm sorry, Aunt Nana..'_

Ino dried her tears and took a deep breath as she stopped the jutsu and felt herself getting pulled out of Taku's mind.

* * *

Ino opened her eyes and felt a couple of strong arms holding her. As she was able to concentrate, she was met by Naruto's beautiful blue eyes. She blushed slightly, and Naruto gave her an odd look. Before he could ask however, Taku made a sound that got their attention. Naruto set Ino down on her feet, but still held onto her, because she was shaking a bit.

"Taku." Ino said and he opened his eyes to look at her. He had tears in them. She gave him a slight smile, "You remember now, don't you?"

Taku nodded, "Yeah.." He said as he used his hand to rub his eyes. "I guess I was so focused on getting stronger that I hurt people in the process..." Gina sat down next to him again and started to comfort him silently. "Some things are still blurry, and I know there's more stuff that I don't remember.. But I know that I now know why things are how they are."

"Except how you got amnesia in the first place." Sakura pointed out.

"I used too much chakra for one time, but I'll give it another shot tomorrow. Is that okay with you?" Ino asked Taku and he nodded.

"Of course." Taku smiled at her, "Thank you, Ino." She smiled back at him.

"No problem. But I think I'll lay down for a bit." She said and walked towards the door. "I'll see you again tomorrow then." She said and waved before walking out of the room.

"I guess the next step is to find your aunt." Naruto said and Gina nodded.

"We should go where we all first met. You said that was the first thing you remembered, right?" Gina said and Taku nodded. Gina and Naruto shared a look, "Then that's where we're going!"

"What..?" Taku asked and gave them a look. "Guys.. I love that you're trying to help me, but we're here for Naruto, you know... It wouldn't be right.. You have a limited time here, and I think you should enjoy that." Naruto smiled and placed a hand on Taku's shoulder.

"Thanks.." He then thought about it for a minute, "How about we start looking for your aunt in a few weeks, when we know what's wrong with Gina, and hopefully we've gotten some kind of medicine for her." He said and looked over at Sakura, who nodded. "Besides, it's three weeks until the chuunin exams continue, and since it's in front of the whole village, I won't be there anyways." He said. "Because even though we found a way for me to come here without anyone to throw me out, people still might want to hurt me, and those around me." He noticed that Sakura seemed to get very down at this. He walked over to her and rubbed her back, "Hey, it's okay."

"Naruto.. How can you say it's okay.. When people hurt you like that?" She asked him as she wrapped her arms around herself as she looked up into his eyes.

He gave her a slight smile, "They don't know any better."

"You really aren't angry with how people treated you?" Sakura asked, confused.

"No. Of course, I wish that I wouldn't have to go through it, but I think it strengthened me. Besides, they haven't been able to know the real me. Some people only know that the Kyuubi is inside of me. For civilians it's hard for them to understand the whole sealing thing. Besides, it might be hard for people to understand how the most powerful creature is held back by a human, much less a newborn child." Naruto said and smiled, "And I don't think they did what they did to hurt me as a human, but was so blinded by the sorrow and all of the mixed feelings they had on the time that they did what they felt were right. If they really knew that I am not the Kyuubi itself but just the 'prison' I'm almost 100% sure that they wouldn't treat me like they did."

Sakura looked at him in awe. She knew he didn't have anything against the people of Konoha, but hearing him talk like that.. It made her so proud of him. She smiled and placed her hand on his cheek and caressed it for a moment, before remembering that both Gina and Taku was in the room. However, she just kept smiling at Naruto as she took her hand away from his cheek.

"Well, I think this is what we can do for today, we'll pick it up tomorrow. Does that sound good?" She asked and they all nodded. "I really think you should take it easy the rest of the day Taku." Again he nodded.

He and Gina walked towards the door, "I'll make sure he take's it easy." Gina said and gave Sakura a grin. Sakura smiled back and laughed when Taku looked desperately at Naruto, who just laughed. Gina dragged Taku out of the room and closed the door as Naruto laughed.

"Hey Naruto.." Sakura said and Naruto looked at her.

"Sakura-chan?" He asked and she felt her cheeks redden slightly.

"Would you like to do something later today, after I get off of work? I really miss you." She asked as she looked down on the ground.

Naruto smiled, but on the inside he was exploding with joy, "Of course, Sakura-chan. I'd love to. When do you get off of work?"

Sakura smiled, "Around 15.00. But there's also another thing I'd like to ask you, but I'll have to ask Taku and Gina as well." She began, "If Tsunade would let me, could I come along with you when you go to find Taku's aunt and try to figure everything out? I know you said you would wait until We've figured out what's wrong with Gina and all, but I'd really like to make sure everything goes good and that she doesn't have any bad side effects."

Naruto smiled, "Of course! Both Gina and Taku loves you, so I'm sure it will all work out! As for Tsunade-baachan.. Let's just work our charm on her." He said and she chuckled. "Besides, you have a good reason to come."

"Yeah.. Do you want to come?" Sakura asked, silently hoping that he would. Naruto chuckled.

"I said that we should work our charm on her, didn't I? Of course I'll come with you." Naruto said and smiled.

"Want to go talk to her now? She's probably in her hospital office right now."

"Sure."

* * *

Tsunade ended up saying yes to Sakura going with Naruto, and actually decided to make it a mission. The paperwork would be done later, a few days before they would leave.

Sakura was currently putting on a knee length black skirt and a white shirt along with some black heels. It wasn't a very long heel on her shoes, but it still looked great and it was very comfortable. Naruto had said that he would pick her up at 16.00, giving her an hour to get home from the hospital and to get ready. It was more then enough time for Sakura to get ready, but she did have a hard time deciding on what to wear. They hadn't really decided on what they were doing, but she decided on her outfit because it was casual, but would be nice to wear to a date at a fancy restaurant.

She didn't know if it was considered a date or just friends catching up – but she was just happy to be spending some time with him. She would be lying if she said she didn't have feelings for Naruto. She just didn't know what kind of feelings it was. She had never felt the way she felt now before, and it made her slightly confused. She hoped that by spending some time with Naruto, she could figure out what her feelings really meant. But she would most likely talk to someone about it later.

There was a knock on the door and she went to open it. Naruto was standing there with a smile on his face, looking very good. He had some black pants on, along with a blue shirt that matched the color of his eyes. The shirt was button-up, and he had left the two top buttons unbuttoned. As he saw how she looked, his jaw nearly dropped to the floor. She looked amazing!

"Wow.." They both said. They looked into each others eyes and blushed slightly. Sakura opened the door, "Would you like to come in for a little while?" She asked and he nodded.

"Sure, I'd love to." He said and walked inside.

Sakura walked into the kitchen to get something for the two of them to drink. "Anything special you want?" She asked him. He came into the kitchen after her.

"Anything would be fine." He said.

Sakura got a sudden craving for hot chocolate. "How about hot chocolate?" She asked.

He smiled, "That would be perfect."

They sat down on her couch and drank their hot chocolate as they had a light and comfortable conversation. "So, what do you want to do today, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.

Sakura smiled, "I don't know." She said, "Honestly, anything would be great."

Naruto smiled back at her, "Well, how about we just walk around for a bit and decide on that as we go on? I do have something planned for us later though." He said

Sakura nodded, "Sure." She said and they got up and walked towards the door. He held the door open for her as they walked out.

They walked aimlessly around Konoha as they talked about anything and everything. They ran into some people they knew, like Kiba and Hinata, who was on a date themselves. The four of them talked to each other for quite a while before Kiba pulled Naruto off to the side after seeing Sakura and Hinata in a conversation. "Hey Naruto.." Kiba began but trailed off.

"Yeah? What is it?" Naruto asked, confused that he had to drag him away from his girlfriend to talk to him.

Kiba lowered his voice, "..Do you think Hinata-chan would marry me if I asked her?" He whispered. Naruto's eyes widened, and Kiba kept talking. "I mean.. I know we're still young.. But we've been together for 4 years now.. And It's not as if we have to get married right away, I mean, we could wait!"

Naruto smiled at him. "Of course she'll say yes!"

Kiba's eyes lightened up, "You really think so?" he asked and Naruto nodded. "I'll have to ask her father first though... I'm on his good side but he scares the crap out of me!"

Naruto laughed, "It'll be fine." He said and lightly pushed his shoulder.

Kiba laughed, "Thanks man."

They walked back over to Sakura and Hinata, who were still in a conversation. Didn't look like they had noticed that they had gone off to the side for a little while. After about 5-10 minutes later they walked two different ways, but not before Naruto pushed Kiba lightly in the shoulder as if saying 'Go for it!' Kiba grinned and pushed him back before he put his hand around Hinata's waist and pulled her in close as they walked down the street. Naruto and Sakura smiled at each other before continuing to walk around.

Naruto suddenly smiled and Sakura looked at him. "What?" She asked and he took her hand in his.

"Come on. I have everything ready for you now." He said as he started to walk into the woods.

Sakura smiled, not entirely understanding why they walked into the forest. "Where are we going?"

Naruto gave her a grin, "It's a surprise!" He said and then looked at her heels. 'It's not going to be good walking in those heels..' he thought before sweeping her off her feet and began to carry her bridal style.

She got so surprised at his action that she let out a squeal. "What are you doing?!" She asked him, trying to look angry, but couldn't when she looked into his ocean blue eyes.

"We're coming towards a path that can't be good to walk on in those heels." Naruto said softly, "I don't want you to break your ankle." He said and blushed slightly, "Sorry if this make you uncomfortable."

Sakura smiled. He was always thinking about her. "No, it's fine." She said as she leaned her head lightly against his chest. They both blushed at this. Sakura could smell his cologne, and it smelled good!

"Well, I'm going to speed up, okay?" He asked and when he got a nod from her he sped up. In a matter of a few minutes he stopped. "We're here." He said. Sakura, who had her eyes closed pretty much the whole way since he started to carry her, opened her eyes as he slowly set her feet down on the ground. She let out a slight gasp when she saw how beautiful it was around her.

"It's so beautiful here!" She stated as she looked around. They were in the middle of the forest, and she was standing in front of a lake that had a small waterfall from the upper half of the lake to the lower half. There were a lot of beautiful flowers around them, and there was a couple of Sakura tree's around 5-15 meters away from the lake. Where the ground was straight, there was a table that had two candles as well as food, with two chairs. Sakura looked up at Naruto, "I've never been here before. I didn't know a place like this existed in Konoha." She said as she looked around.

"I found it when I was 5 years old." Naruto began but stopped. Sakura knew exactly what had made him find it when he stopped talking. He gave a small smile as he looked at the lake. "Some of the villagers were chasing me one day and I ran into the forest. They ended up stopping to look for me when they lost track of me. I ran for a very long time, and I eventually got lost. But then I stumbled upon this place." Neither of them took notice that Sakura had leaned back onto him and rubbed his back slowly. "I stayed here for a while, and whenever I needed to get away from everyone, I would come here."

Sakura brought her hand up to her face to dry away the tears that were starting to form in her eyes as she listened to his story. She couldn't believe how much crap he had gone through. "I doubt anyone else knows about this place actually. Because it's so beautiful, people would come here all the time if they knew." Sakura said and looked up into his eyes. "Thank you for sharing this with me, Naruto." Sakura said and gave him a hug.

He laughed, "No problem. It sort of reminds me of you." He said and looked at the Sakura trees.

Sakura followed his eyes and giggled. "You're so sweet." She said and he scratched the back of his neck and grinned sheepishly. He then took her hand and led her towards the table and pulled out the chair for her and pushed it back in after she sat down.

"I hope you're hungry." He said, and Sakura nodded. He removed the cover from their plates and Sakura was pleasantly surprised when she saw that he hadn't chosen ramen, or dango for that matter. He had chosen sushi.

"Wow, no ramen?" She teased him and he laughed.

"No. I figured something other then ramen would be good." He said as he took a bite pf his own Sushi and put it into his mouth. Sakura smiled at him and took a bite of her own.

* * *

Naruto had followed Sakura home after their little date. There was a good hug and a kiss on the cheek from Sakura to Naruto.

Currently, Naruto, Sakura and Gina were the only one's conscious in the room, while Ino and Taku were once again out cold as Ino was inside his mind.

Gina sat on the same bed as Taku was laying on, and was currently running her fingers through his hair. A few minutes earlier, he had started to shake and cry, and it seemed to calm him down. Ino laid on another bed as Sakura was checking up on both her and Taku, making sure everything was alright with them while Naruto sat on the side worrying about Gina. She was sick this morning again, though Sakura managed to heal her throat and stomach when they came to the hospital. Naruto and Taku had pretty much rushed to the hospital, and thankfully, Sakura had just come in the door herself, and they rushed Gina into a room. Thankfully, Sakura got everything under control within minutes.

Naruto had seen Gina so sick in years. But back then they didn't have a medic that healed with chakra. Sakura had gotten Gina up on her feet within 1 hour.

Sakura finished checking up on Ino and Taku and looked at Gina. "Well, Gina, I think I might have found a cure for your sickness." Sakura said and smiled.

Gina smiled and threw herself onto Sakura and hugged her. "Really?!" Sakura laughed and nodded her head.

"It might need some corrections during time, but I'm pretty sure I found a way." Gina smiled widely and hugged her again. "I've made some pills. You'll have to take two a day, which means one in the morning and one in the night. I've also made some painkillers for you to take if you feel pain in your throat, stomach and chest like you've gotten before you've gotten really sick." Sakura said and handed Gina a bag with the medication. "I will keep an close eye on you though. I have to be a hundred percent sure this is working."

Naruto smiled, but not only because Sakura had found a cure for Gina's sickness, but also because Gina and Sakura seemed to have become great friends over the time. Gina was always hanging out with Taku and him and it was probably good for her to have a female friend.

He noticed that both Ino and Taku started to stir just before they opened their eyes. Sakura walked over to them both with a glass of water as well as a pain killer. They both drank it before Ino stood up from the bed while Taku simply sat up in the bed, not ready to stand up yet. Gina sat down at Taku's bed again. "So?" She asked with a smile.

"The one who attacked me and my aunt was.. A person from Akatsuki.." Taku said slowly.

"What? Are you sure?" Naruto asked, shocked. "But.. Why would the Akatsuki go after you and your family? They're after the tailed beasts..?"

Taku sighed, "Apparently.. We pissed him off." Taku said and Naruto sweatdropped.

"Do you remember which member it was?" Naruto asked. Naruto hadn't countered the Akatsuki after Jiraya had to leave him. He was quite thankful for that.

"Some dude who looked like a fish." Taku answered.

"Kisame..." Naruto and Sakura said at the same time.

"You know him?" Ino asked. She knew Naruto had ran into Akatsuki quite a lot, and she knew that Naruto had the Kyuubi sealed in him. However, she didn't know which members Naruto had fought and which ones he hadn't.

"Yeah.. He was partner with Uchiha Itachi. A lot of these times Sasuke was with us and he ended up trying to fight Itachi while Kisame went after me. Itachi would then come and attack me as well, after he had knocked out Sasuke, but luckily Kakashi-sensei was there to help me. There was no way I could take on them and survive back then.. No matter how psyched up I was." Naruto explained.

Gina and Taku shared a look. Maybe he wasn't strong enough before, but he was most definitely to take on most of the Akatsuki members now. That they were sure of.

"The battle was in wave.." Taku said and looked at his hands.

"We should start there then." Naruto said and put a hand on his shoulder. He smiled down at Taku before helping him up. "Come on."

They walked towards the door and opened it. When they turned the first corner, Naruto met the face of one of those he considered his best friend. They stared at each other before smirking.

"Dobe.."

"Teme.."

* * *

There you have it; chapter 18. I'm actually sort of 50/50 about this chapter, but I worked really hard on it. It was a pain in the butt to be honest. Please review and tell me what you think. Idea's and suggestions are always welcome!


	19. Chapter 19

The still living dream

chapter 19

**A/N: ****IMPORTANT!** Yes, an update! Finally right? I have so much on my mind right now, and my updates are going to be much slower.. I really don't want to abandon this story. The thing is, I have no idea where I want this story to go, and with some of the revealings in the Manga, it really threw this whole story around and I have no idea how to fix it. So, this story is kinda but kinda not on **Hitaus.** Idea's for this story would be greatly appreciated, I really hope I can end this story in a good way, and not end it with a huge cliffhanger.

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke was staring at each other, while Sakura, Taku, Gina and Ino was looking between the two of them. Ino sweat dropped when she saw the two of them smirk slightly at each other, clearly showing that they were both uncomfortable. _'Awkward...' _She thought before putting on a smile and clapped her hands together, "Well, I need to go. See ya!" She said before quickly walking down the hallway.

Sakura sweat dropped at her best friend. She shook her head and turned her head back to look at Naruto and Sasuke, to see them both gone. She narrowed her eyes in confusion and turned to Gina and Taku looking for answers. "They went to have a spar." Gina explained, "I don't know where they went though."

"Hm." She said as she made a blank expression, before walking off. "I'll see you later!"

* * *

As Sakura walked to their old training grounds, she could hear that they were fighting. She sighed. She knew that Sasuke was very powerful, but she also knew that Naruto is now probably much more powerful then him.

People were running towards the training ground to see what was happening. Some looked very scared, afraid that someone was getting attacked, or even worse, that the village was under attack. Some looked curious, but calm, while others looked like they were about to faint or something due to the chakra.

An old woman ran up to Sakura. "Sakura-san, what is going on? Is everything okay?" She asked and held her grandchild in her arms, who was now crying.

Sakura smiled softly. "Relax everything is fine, it's just a spar." She said and ruffled the hair of the young boy the old woman was holding.

"You call that a spar? You young kids now a days!" She said and Sakura chuckled.

"Well, I'll have to go and make sure they doesn't kill each other." Sakura said and waved to the woman. When she got to the training ground she saw that both Naruto and Sasuke was flying back away from each other. She saw them both get up, and they were both bleeding. She sighed again. Now, another person came up to her.

"Sakura-sama!" The Jounin said, "Who is it fighting the Uchiha?" He asked, and took out his sword.

Sakura panicked slightly seeing him get his sword out. "Put that sword away right now!" She said and everyone looked at her. "They are having a.. friendly.. spar."

Another Jounin looked at her. "You call that friendly?"

"For them it is." She said and looked at the two boys. They had pretty much ruined the whole training ground by now. She saw them get up and she saw a look in Sasuke's eyes she didn't like. He got ready to use his Chidori and started running towards Naruto with it. Naruto looked up just in time to see Sasuke right in front of him, and he pushed his Chidori right at him.

The crowd stood in silence, the Chidori had made it impossible to see through the air. But as the air cleared, they could see Naruto holding Sasuke's hand firmly. His hand still and some electricity in it.

"Alright, that's enough you two!" Sakura yelled at them and Sasuke pulled his hand back. Naruto looked at him walking away, but getting stopped by a medical ninja and getting healed up. Sakura walked up to Naruto. "Geez, way to take it easy, huh?" She said and Naruto grinned. "You're hurt." She said and looked at his abdomen. "Take your shirt off, I'll heal it."

Naruto carefully took his black shirt off and threw it on to the ground. Sakura started to inspect the wound before she started healing it. "Why are all these people here?" Naruto asked her.

"They thought someone was under attack or something like that." Sakura explained. "Some of them were very worried, and some even though about attacking you."

"Eh?" Naruto was shocked.

"Relax Naruto. It was just because they don't recognize you and you were fighting Sasuke."

"..Ah.." Naruto said and stayed quiet for a while. Sasuke had already been taken away. "..Hey Sakura-chan.. I noticed something.. About Sasuke." Naruto said and looked down into the ground.

"..His eyes?" Sakura asked and Naruto looked into her eyes and nodded.

"He actually tried to kill me right there." Naruto said. "It started like a normal spar, but.."

Sakura finished healing him and looked up into his eyes. "It got out of control?"

"Yes."

"Well.. When you stopped his Chidori, he probably understood that he couldn't win it and decided to give up.. For now at least.." Naruto looked into the ground with a pained look on his eyes. Sakura placed her hand on his cheek and made him look into her eyes again. She smiled softly at him. After a little while he smiled back at her and she pulled her hand back. Naruto immediately missed the feeling of her soft hand on his face. "So, how do you feel?"

Naruto grinned widely and flexed his muscles. "I feel awesome! You're really amazing, Sakura-chan!" Sakura blushed, both by watching how his muscles flexed, but also because of the praise.

"Thanks.."

"Hey Naruto!" They heard a voice and they turned around to see Kiba and Hinata running up to them hand in hand. Naruto noticed the ring on Hinata's finger and smiled.

"Congratulations!" He said and Kiba thanked him, while Sakura and Hinata were talking about the ring and how he proposed.

"How did your father take it..?" Sakura asked Hinata and Kiba sweat dropped.

Hinata smiled softly and grabbed Kiba's hand again. "He didn't like it at first.. But when we explained that we love each other and how we're not getting married right away.. I guess he eased up a bit." Hinata said.

"That's your side of the story, Hinata-chan..." Kiba said and winced as he rubbed his neck. "Your father nearly choked me to death! He's scary!" Hinata giggled and hugged Kiba. He kissed the side of her face and Naruto and Sakura smiled at them.

That was real love right there.


End file.
